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.
By W. Viljoen · Published 21 June 2026
Polandvs
Oman- Poland312,916 km² · 2.6× on the map
- Oman312,790 km² · 1.2× on the map
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.Dead heat
Poland and Oman are about as close in area as two countries can be — within a
couple of hundred square kilometres of each other. On the map, though, Poland
looks the clear bigger of the two.
The numbers
- Poland: ~312,900 km²
- Oman: ~312,800 km²
The difference is around 0.04% — they are, to all intents, the same size.
Why the map lies
Poland lies around 50–54° north, where Mercator already exaggerates noticeably.
Oman sits lower, roughly 17–26° north, nearer the honest tropics. So the
projection nudges Poland larger and leaves Oman close to true scale.
Try it
Drag Poland south toward Oman. As the latitude drops, its inflated footprint
settles back to its real size — and the dead heat the map disguised becomes
obvious.