How big it really is
239,616 km²True area · 92,516 square miles
81 / 242By area
2.87×As Mercator draws it
127 timesFits into Africa
66,834,405People
279People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of United Kingdom is at about 54° 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 2.87× 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: