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.
By W. Viljoen · Published 21 June 2026
Italyvs
Philippines- Italy301,352 km² · 1.8× on the map
- Philippines295,090 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.Almost the same
Italy and the Philippines are close enough in area to call a near-match, but the
map hands Italy an edge it hasn't earned. One coils around the Mediterranean; the
other scatters across the tropical Pacific.
The numbers
- Italy: ~301,400 km²
- Philippines: ~295,100 km²
Italy is only about 2% larger — practically a tie.
Why the map lies
Italy sits around 36–47° north, where Mercator stretches the map moderately. The
Philippines lie in the tropics, roughly 5–19° north, where the distortion is
slight. The result is a small real gap drawn as a larger one.
Try it
Drag Italy down toward the Philippines. Stripped of its mid-latitude
inflation, its true footprint slips to just a touch larger than the Philippines —
exactly what the numbers say.