The true size of countries

The Mercator map makes Greenland look as big as Africa — yet Africa is really about 14× larger. Drag any country across the map to watch its drawn size snap back to the truth.

Why the map gets it wrong

The distortion isn't random — it's an exact tax of distance from the equator:

On the equator: drawn true to size
~45° (Romania, the US–Canada border): about 2× too big
~60° (Sweden, central Canada): about 4× too big

Fill it up: how many fit inside?Drop countries into a giant one and watch it fill to true size.Mix it up→

Size Twins

Countries that are, in truth, almost exactly the same size — but the map draws one far larger than the other.

Belarus vs Guyana: the same size, opposite ends of the map
Guyana is actually about 3% larger than Belarus — 212,600 km² to 207,100 — yet Mercator draws Belarus as the bigger one.
BelarusvsGuyana
DR Congo vs Greenland: nearly identical, wildly different on the map
DR Congo is slightly larger than Greenland — 2.34 million km² to 2.17 million — yet Mercator makes Greenland look several times its size.
Democratic Republic of the CongovsGreenland
Finland vs Vietnam: identical in size, opposites on the map
Finland and Vietnam cover almost the same area — about 331,000 km² each — yet Mercator inflates Finland and shrinks Vietnam.
FinlandvsVietnam
Germany vs the Republic of the Congo: a near tie the map hides
Germany is only about 3% larger than the Republic of the Congo — 357,200 km² to 347,200 — though Mercator makes Germany look far bigger.
GermanyvsRepublic of the Congo
Iceland vs South Korea: the same size, very different on the map
Iceland and South Korea are nearly the same size — about 100,000 km² each — yet Mercator makes Iceland look much larger.
IcelandvsSouth Korea

See all Size Twins→

The Underdog Is Bigger

The country you'd bet was smaller is actually the larger one — once the projection stops lying.

Algeria vs Greenland: the underdog is bigger
Algeria is about 8% larger than Greenland — 2.32 million km² to 2.14 million — even though Mercator makes Greenland look far bigger.
AlgeriavsGreenland
Argentina vs Greenland: the underdog is bigger
Argentina is about 30% larger than Greenland — 2.79 million km² to 2.14 million — though the Mercator map makes Greenland look far bigger.
ArgentinavsGreenland
DR Congo vs Norway, Sweden, and Finland combined
One equatorial country outweighs the whole Nordic north — by more than two to one.
Democratic Republic of the Congo,Norway,Sweden,Finland
Kazakhstan vs Greenland: the underdog is bigger
Kazakhstan is about 27% larger than Greenland — 2.71 million km² to 2.14 million — though Mercator draws Greenland as the giant.
KazakhstanvsGreenland
Sudan vs Mongolia: the underdog is bigger
Sudan is about 19% larger than Mongolia — 1.87 million km² to 1.56 million — though Mercator makes Mongolia look the wider sprawl.
SudanvsMongolia

See all The Underdog Is Bigger→

Mercator's Biggest Liars

The most spectacular distortions on the map, where Mercator inflates a country many times over.

Canada vs Brazil: closer in size than the map admits
Canada is only about 17% larger than Brazil — 9.98 million km² to 8.52 million — not the two-to-one gap the Mercator map suggests.
CanadavsBrazil
Greenland vs Australia: the true size
Australia is about 3.5× the size of Greenland — 7.69 million km² to 2.17 million — though the Mercator map draws them nearly the same size.
GreenlandvsAustralia
Greenland vs Brazil: the map's favourite illusion
Brazil is almost four times the size of Greenland — 8.52 million km² to 2.14 million — though the Mercator map draws them as near equals.
GreenlandvsBrazil
Greenland vs India: which is really bigger?
India is about 1.5× the size of Greenland — 3.17 million km² to 2.14 million — even though Greenland looks far larger on the Mercator map.
GreenlandvsIndia
Is Greenland bigger than Africa?
No — Africa is about 14 times the size of Greenland. The Mercator map makes them look similar only because it inflates Greenland nearly ninefold near the pole, while equatorial Africa is drawn close to true size.
GreenlandvsAfrica
Is Greenland bigger than Europe?
No — Europe is about 2.8 times the size of Greenland: roughly 6 million km² against Greenland's 2,142,677. They look like a match on the Mercator map only because it sits Greenland in the high Arctic and inflates it far more than it inflates Europe.
GreenlandvsEurope
Russia vs Australia: big, but not that big
Russia is about 2.2× the size of Australia — 16.9 million km² to 7.7 million — not the five-or-six-to-one gap the Mercator map suggests.
RussiavsAustralia

See all Mercator's Biggest Liars→

Where Mercator Lies Least

2 facts

Near the equator the map tells something close to the truth. These are its honest cases.

The Latitude Tax

7 facts

The further from the equator, the bigger Mercator draws you. Watch the tax climb latitude by latitude.

How Many Fit Inside?

11 facts

True-size area ratios framed as a count: how many of the smaller country fit inside the giant.

It All Fits Inside

4 facts

Stack several countries into one and watch them disappear — the equatorial giants Mercator draws small, swallowing the northern countries it inflates.

Start here

Mercator, explained

The map itself, explained: what the Mercator projection is, why it distorts size, and why the world still uses it.

Read the explainer→

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