How big it really is
570,161 km²True area · 220,140 square miles
50 / 242By area
2.34×As Mercator draws it
53 timesFits into Africa
44,385,155People
77.8People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Ukraine is at about 49° 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 2.34× 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: