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.
By W. Viljoen · Published 21 June 2026
Irelandvs
Sierra Leone- Ireland69,315 km² · 2.8× on the map
- Sierra Leone72,072 km²
Both panels are drawn to the same scale. On the left, each country is the size the Mercator map gives it; on the right, its true size with the latitude distortion removed.A surprising match
Ireland and Sierra Leone are nearly the same size, with Sierra Leone slightly
ahead. The map tells a different story: Ireland looks the larger, sitting high in
the North Atlantic, while Sierra Leone looks small on West Africa's coast.
The numbers
- Ireland: ~69,300 km²
- Sierra Leone: ~72,100 km²
Sierra Leone is about 4% larger — a near tie, drawn backwards.
Why the map lies
Sierra Leone sits in the tropics, roughly 7–10° north, where Mercator is nearly
faithful. Ireland lies around 51–55° north, where the projection inflates. So
Ireland is puffed up while Sierra Leone is shown at its real scale.
Try it
Drag Ireland south toward Sierra Leone. Its true footprint shrinks as it
leaves the north, settling just under Sierra Leone — exactly what the numbers say.