Sweden vs Papua New Guinea: the same size, worlds apart on the map
Papua New Guinea is actually about 5% larger than Sweden — 468,200 km² to 444,500 — yet Mercator makes Sweden look far bigger.
By W. Viljoen · Published 21 June 2026
Swedenvs
Papua New Guinea- Sweden444,486 km² · 4.3× on the map
- Papua New Guinea468,197 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.An unlikely match
Sweden and Papua New Guinea are nearly the same size, with Papua New Guinea
slightly ahead. The map makes them look nothing alike: Sweden stretches down the
Scandinavian peninsula and looks large, while Papua New Guinea reads as a scatter
of land just south of the equator.
The numbers
- Sweden: ~444,500 km²
- Papua New Guinea: ~468,200 km²
Papua New Guinea is about 5% larger — a near tie the map disguises.
Why the map lies
Papua New Guinea lies right by the equator, roughly 1–11° south, where Mercator is
nearly faithful. Sweden reaches from about 55 to 69° north, deep into the stretch
zone, so it is drawn far larger than reality.
Try it
Drag Sweden south toward Papua New Guinea. Watch its true-size footprint
collapse as it leaves the far north, until it settles just under its equatorial
twin.