How big it really is
515,736 km²True area · 199,127 square miles
51 / 242By area
1.07×As Mercator draws it
59 timesFits into Africa
69,625,582People
135People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Thailand is at about 15° N. Mercator stretches each place by the same amount across and up, more the further it is from the equator, so here every area comes out 1.07× its true size.
At the equator nothing is stretched. At 60° north or south, everything is drawn at four times its true area. The poles never fit on the map at all.
Countries about this size
The countries just bigger and just smaller, each at its true area: