How big it really is
447,373 km²True area · 172,732 square miles
58 / 242By area
1.80×As Mercator draws it
68 timesFits into Africa
33,580,650People
75.1People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Uzbekistan is at about 42° 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 1.80× 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: