The true size of countries
Mercator maps make places near the poles look huge. Drag a country toward the equator and watch it shrink to its real size; drag it north and watch it swell.
Why Mercator inflates the poles
To turn the globe into a rectangle, Mercator stretches every line of latitude to the same width as the equator. At 60°N a circle of latitude is only half as long as the equator, so it gets stretched 2× sideways. To keep shapes from looking squashed, Mercator stretches it 2× vertically too, so areas there are drawn about 4 times too big. The rule is simple: the area scale is 1 / cos²(latitude).
That's why Greenland (2.2 million km²) looks like Africa (30.4 million km²), and why Alaska seems bigger than Mexico, though Mexico is larger. Compare with an equal-area map on the map projections page.
Area stretch by latitude
| Latitude | Drawn size | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 0° | 1× | Ecuador, Kenya |
| 30° | 1.3× | Egypt, Texas |
| 45° | 2× | France, Minnesota |
| 60° | 4× | Oslo, Anchorage |
| 70° | 8.5× | North Greenland |
| 80° | 33.2× | Svalbard |
Frequently asked questions
Why does Greenland look so big on maps?
Most web and wall maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches shapes more the farther they are from the equator. At Greenland's latitude (around 72°N) the stretch in area is roughly 10 times. Greenland is 2.17 million km²; Africa is 30.4 million km², about 14 times larger.
How big is Africa really?
About 30.4 million km², big enough to hold the United States, China, India, Japan and most of Europe at once. On Mercator it looks roughly the same size as Greenland.
Why do maps still use Mercator?
Because it preserves angles: a straight line on a Mercator map is a line of constant compass bearing, which made it ideal for navigation. Web maps such as Google Maps use a variant (Web Mercator) because it keeps local shapes and streets undistorted at any zoom level.
Is the size on this page exact?
Yes, within the detail of the map data. Each country is rotated on the globe to the new position and then projected with Mercator, so the stretch you see is the real distortion at that latitude.