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.
By W. Viljoen · Published 21 June 2026
GreenlandvsAfrica- Greenland2,142,677 km² · 9.9× on the map
- Africa29,886,118 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.The short answer
No — and it isn't close. Africa is about 14 times the size of Greenland.
Greenland covers about 2,142,677 km²; Africa, all its countries together, comes to
roughly 30 million km². On a Mercator map, though, the two look like
near-equals — which is probably the single most famous lie the projection tells.
Why the map makes them look equal
The Mercator projection inflates land more the further it sits from the equator.
Greenland sits in the high Arctic, around 60–83° north, where the map magnifies
area roughly ninefold — so it's drawn as a near-continent. Africa straddles the
equator, where Mercator adds almost no distortion at all, so it's drawn close to
its true size.
Inflate one massively and leave the other honest, and a 14-to-1 gap collapses into
a dead heat on screen. Greenland looks like Africa only because the map has
quietly grown it by an order of magnitude.
The true sizes
- Greenland: ~2.14 million km²
- Africa: ~30 million km² (the whole continent)
You could fit Greenland inside Africa about fourteen times over — and still
have room left for a few more.
See it for yourself
The highlighted country is Greenland — drag it down toward the equator and
watch its true size emerge as the Arctic inflation drains away. Set beside Africa
drawn honestly in the figure above, the illusion disappears. Explore
more of Mercator's biggest distortions.