Home
All comparisons

True-size country comparisons

The Mercator map you grew up with quietly lies about size. Each comparison below lets you drag the countries and see how big they really are.

Mercator, explained

What is the Mercator projection?
The Mercator projection is a 1569 navigation map: it keeps every compass bearing a straight line, but to do that it stretches land larger the further it sits from the equator — which is why Greenland looks the size of Africa.
Greenland

Size Twins

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
Ireland vs Sierra Leone: the same size, told differently by the map
Sierra Leone is actually about 4% larger than Ireland — 72,100 km² to 69,300 — though Mercator makes Ireland look the larger.
IrelandvsSierra Leone
Italy vs the Philippines: closer in size than the map lets on
Italy is only about 2% larger than the Philippines — 301,400 km² to 295,100 — though the Mercator map makes the gap look far wider.
ItalyvsPhilippines
Japan vs Zimbabwe: nearly the same size, hidden by the map
Zimbabwe is actually about 5% larger than Japan — 391,400 km² to 374,200 — though Mercator draws Japan as the bigger one.
JapanvsZimbabwe
Latvia vs Sri Lanka: nearly the same size, hidden by the map
Sri Lanka is actually about 4% larger than Latvia — 66,700 km² to 64,400 — though Mercator draws Latvia as the bigger of the two.
LatviavsSri Lanka
Madagascar vs Ukraine: closer in size than the map suggests
Madagascar is actually about 4% larger than Ukraine — 596,100 km² to 571,500 — though Mercator draws Ukraine as the bigger of the two.
MadagascarvsUkraine
Poland vs Oman: the same size, pulled apart by the map
Poland and Oman are near-identical in area — about 313,000 km² each — though the Mercator map draws Poland clearly larger.
PolandvsOman
Romania vs Ghana: nearly the same size, but the map disagrees
Ghana is actually a touch larger than Romania — 240,200 km² to 236,300 — though Mercator draws Romania as the bigger of the two.
RomaniavsGhana
Sweden vs Papua New Guinea: the same size, worlds apart on the map
Papua New Guinea is actually about 5% larger than Sweden — 468,200 km² to 444,500 — yet Mercator makes Sweden look far bigger.
SwedenvsPapua New Guinea
United Kingdom vs Uganda: the same size, a world apart on the map
The UK and Uganda are almost exactly the same size — about 243,000 km² each — yet the Mercator map draws the UK far larger.
United KingdomvsUganda

The Underdog Is Bigger

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

Mercator's Biggest Liars

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

Where Mercator Lies Least

The honesty band: where Mercator tells the truth
On the equator Mercator adds almost no distortion — within about 15° of the line the area error never tops ~14%, so these countries are drawn nearly true to size.
Ecuador,Colombia,Brazil,São Tomé and Príncipe,Gabon,Republic of the Congo,Democratic Republic of the Congo,Uganda,Kenya,Somalia,Indonesia
Indonesia, to scale: the giant the map draws honestly
Indonesia is the world's 14th-largest country — about 1.89 million km², bigger than Iran or Libya — yet sitting on the equator the map draws it honestly, so people still underestimate it.
Indonesia

The Latitude Tax

Above the 60th parallel: where the map quadruples you
Cross 60° north and the map inflates your area at least fourfold — the Nordic crown pays Europe's highest tax.
Iceland,Norway,Sweden,Finland
Same latitude, same lie: Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Mongolia
Three countries of very different sizes, all stretched by the identical factor — because they share a line of latitude.
Ukraine,Kazakhstan,Mongolia
Slide it south: the Arctic giants shrink to the equator
Greenland is drawn about 9× too big and Canada about 5× — drag them toward the equator and the live readout shows that inflation drain to nothing.
GreenlandvsCanada
The 45th parallel: where your area first doubles
Halfway to the pole, the map's area tax hits a round number: everything is drawn exactly twice too big.
Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Serbia,Romania
The Latitude Tax: what Mercator charges for leaving the equator
The map's distortion isn't random — it's an exact tax that doubles by 45° and quadruples by 60°.
Kenya,Romania,Sweden,Greenland
The poles are infinitely large (so the map cuts them off)
The map's distortion doesn't just grow near the poles — it runs to infinity, which is why every web map is secretly cropped.
Greenland
The scale bar lies everywhere except the equator
That little "200 km" ruler is only correct on the equator — everywhere else the map stretches distance, too.
Gabon,Libya,Slovenia,Sweden

How Many Fit Inside?

How many Frances fit inside Brazil?
About thirteen. Brazil holds the whole of France with a dozen more to spare.
BrazilvsFrance
How many Frances fit inside Canada?
About sixteen. Canada swallows the whole of France with room for fifteen more.
CanadavsFrance
How many Frances fit inside Russia?
About twenty-seven. The whole of France is barely a twenty-seventh of Russia.
RussiavsFrance
How many Germanys fit inside Russia?
About forty-seven. All of Germany is roughly a fiftieth of Russia.
RussiavsGermany
How many Japans fit inside Australia?
About twenty-one. Japan is a small piece of the Australian continent.
AustraliavsJapan
How many Japans fit inside China?
About twenty-five. Japan is a small slice of its enormous neighbour.
People's Republic of ChinavsJapan
How many Japans fit inside the USA?
About twenty-five. Japan is a small slice of the United States.
United States of AmericavsJapan
How many UKs fit inside Australia?
About thirty-two. The whole UK is roughly a thirtieth of Australia.
AustraliavsUnited Kingdom
How many UKs fit inside Canada?
About forty-one. The entire UK is barely a fortieth of Canada.
CanadavsUnited Kingdom
How many UKs fit inside Russia?
About seventy. The entire UK is barely a seventieth of Russia.
RussiavsUnited Kingdom
How many UKs fit inside the USA?
About thirty-nine. The whole UK is roughly a fortieth of the United States.
United States of AmericavsUnited Kingdom

It All Fits Inside

Brazil eats Western Europe
Around fifteen European countries — close to the entire EU by area — fit inside Brazil, and it's still only half full.
Brazil,France,Spain,Sweden,Norway,Germany,Finland,Poland,Italy,United Kingdom,Romania,Greece,Bulgaria,Iceland,Hungary,Portugal
The Congo swallows northern Europe
Five northern European countries — France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland — fit inside the DR Congo, with room to spare.
Democratic Republic of the Congo,France,Germany,Norway,Sweden,Finland
Kazakhstan holds Europe's five biggest economies
Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain — Europe's five largest economies — all fit inside Kazakhstan, with room left over.
Kazakhstan,Germany,France,United Kingdom,Italy,Spain
It takes two giants to overflow Russia
Canada and China together — the #2 and #4 largest countries — only just overflow Russia, by about 2.4 million km².
Russia,Canada,People's Republic of China

Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions