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.
By W. Viljoen · Published 21 June 2026
Romaniavs
Ghana- Romania236,334 km² · 2.1× on the map
- Ghana240,213 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 quiet tie
Romania and Ghana are nearly the same size, with Ghana the marginally larger of
the two. On a Mercator map you would assume Romania wins comfortably — it sits
higher up, where everything is drawn bigger than it really is.
The numbers
- Romania: ~236,300 km²
- Ghana: ~240,200 km²
Ghana is actually about 1.6% larger — close enough to call a tie, and the
opposite of what the map implies.
Why the map lies
Ghana hugs the tropics, roughly 5–11° north, where Mercator stays close to the
truth. Romania sits up around 44–48° north, where the projection starts to
inflate. So Romania is puffed up while Ghana is shown near its honest size.
Try it
Drag Romania south toward Ghana. As it nears the tropics its true footprint
shrinks — and settles just under Ghana, exactly reversing the impression the map
gave you.