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Size Twins

Size Twins

Some countries are, to within a rounding error, exactly the same size — and you would never guess it from a world map. The Mercator projection inflates land the further it sits from the equator, so a country in northern Europe gets drawn far larger than its true-size twin near the tropics, even when their real areas match almost perfectly.

The pairs here are genuine size twins: nearly identical in square kilometres, separated only by latitude. The United Kingdom and Uganda both cover about 243,000 km², yet the UK looks far bigger; Poland and Oman are within a fraction of a percent of each other. Each comparison lets you drag one twin to the other's latitude and watch the map's illusion collapse.

Belarus vs Guyana: the same size, opposite ends of the map
Guyana is actually about 3% larger than Belarus — 212,600 km² to 207,100 — yet Mercator draws Belarus as the bigger one.
BelarusvsGuyana
DR Congo vs Greenland: nearly identical, wildly different on the map
DR Congo is slightly larger than Greenland — 2.34 million km² to 2.17 million — yet Mercator makes Greenland look several times its size.
Democratic Republic of the CongovsGreenland
Finland vs Vietnam: identical in size, opposites on the map
Finland and Vietnam cover almost the same area — about 331,000 km² each — yet Mercator inflates Finland and shrinks Vietnam.
FinlandvsVietnam
Germany vs the Republic of the Congo: a near tie the map hides
Germany is only about 3% larger than the Republic of the Congo — 357,200 km² to 347,200 — though Mercator makes Germany look far bigger.
GermanyvsRepublic of the Congo
Iceland vs South Korea: the same size, very different on the map
Iceland and South Korea are nearly the same size — about 100,000 km² each — yet Mercator makes Iceland look much larger.
IcelandvsSouth Korea
Ireland vs Sierra Leone: the same size, told differently by the map
Sierra Leone is actually about 4% larger than Ireland — 72,100 km² to 69,300 — though Mercator makes Ireland look the larger.
IrelandvsSierra Leone
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.
ItalyvsPhilippines
Japan vs Zimbabwe: nearly the same size, hidden by the map
Zimbabwe is actually about 5% larger than Japan — 391,400 km² to 374,200 — though Mercator draws Japan as the bigger one.
JapanvsZimbabwe
Latvia vs Sri Lanka: nearly the same size, hidden by the map
Sri Lanka is actually about 4% larger than Latvia — 66,700 km² to 64,400 — though Mercator draws Latvia as the bigger of the two.
LatviavsSri Lanka
Madagascar vs Ukraine: closer in size than the map suggests
Madagascar is actually about 4% larger than Ukraine — 596,100 km² to 571,500 — though Mercator draws Ukraine as the bigger of the two.
MadagascarvsUkraine
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.
PolandvsOman
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.
RomaniavsGhana
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.
SwedenvsPapua New Guinea
United Kingdom vs Uganda: the same size, a world apart on the map
The UK and Uganda are almost exactly the same size — about 243,000 km² each — yet the Mercator map draws the UK far larger.
United KingdomvsUganda

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