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Maps and projections

10 Giant Countries that are actually much smaller

Ten countries far from the Equator that look much larger on a Mercator map than they really are.

3 min readSources: 3

Why do northern countries look like giants?

A Mercator map enlarges areas more the farther they lie from the Equator. Countries in the far north and south therefore look much larger than they are, while countries near the Equator look smaller. Below are ten countries that appear to be giants on such a map. For each we give its real area and a country near the Equator with a similar or larger area that looks modest on the map.

  1. Greenland (2.17 million km²): lies mostly between 60° and 83° north, where areas are enlarged from four to several dozen times. It is smaller than the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2.35 million km²).
  2. Russia (17.1 million km²): the largest country in the world, yet Africa (about 30.4 million km²) is almost twice its size. A large part of Russia lies north of 60°, where areas are enlarged at least four times.
  3. Canada (9.98 million km²): is only about 1.5% larger than the United States (9.83 million km²), but on a Mercator map it looks much bigger because it lies farther north.
  4. Iceland (103,000 km²): at about 65° areas are enlarged more than five times. Iceland is slightly smaller than Cuba (110,000 km²).
  5. Finland (337,000 km²): at about 64° the map enlarges areas roughly five times. Finland is slightly smaller than the Republic of the Congo (342,000 km²), which lies on the Equator.
  6. Sweden (439,000 km²): looks like a giant of Europe, yet it is smaller than Cameroon (476,000 km²).
  7. Estonia (45,000 km²): at its latitude areas are enlarged about 3.7 times. It is smaller than Costa Rica (51,000 km²).
  8. The United Kingdom (244,000 km²): has almost the same area as Ghana (239,000 km²), but on a Mercator map it looks roughly three times larger.
  9. Mongolia (1.56 million km²): is about 22% larger than Peru (1.29 million km²), but on the map it looks more than twice as large because it lies farther from the Equator.
  10. New Zealand (268,000 km²): an example from the Southern Hemisphere. It has almost exactly the same area as Gabon (268,000 km²), yet on a Mercator map it looks clearly larger.

The mathematical reason

The Mercator projection stretches the map as it moves away from the Equator, equally in both directions. Scale grows with the secant of latitude, and areas with its square. At the Equator the scale is 1. At 60° it is 2, so areas are enlarged four times. At 80° the scale is about 5.8 and areas are enlarged about 33 times. The figures for each country refer to its typical latitude, so they are approximations: large countries span many parallels.

Quick check

Which is larger in reality: Africa or Greenland?

Check it on the map

Pick any of these countries in the country catalog, or overlay the outlines, for example in the United States and Russia comparison. You will see their true proportions, without the stretching of the map.

Sources