Move the comparison set
Drag any colored country anywhere on the map. The size updates based on its new latitude, just like Mercator does.
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Country Size Comparison
Russia and Canada both sit far north, so both are visually inflated on Mercator world maps. Compare their true areas on the interactive map.
Drag any colored country anywhere on the map. The size updates based on its new latitude, just like Mercator does.
True Size Comparison
Russia and Canada both sit far north, so both are visually inflated on Mercator world maps. Compare their true areas on the interactive map.
Russia is about 1.7 times larger than Canada, and both countries are exaggerated by Mercator projection because of their northern latitude.
Use the interactive Mercator map above to move countries away from their original latitude. The shape is repositioned on the same projection so you can see how apparent scale changes in real time.
Traditional world maps often exaggerate high-latitude countries. A true size comparison makes the area relationship clearer than a static Mercator map.
Yes. Russia is about 17.1 million square kilometers, while Canada is about 10.0 million square kilometers.
Yes. Both extend far north, where Mercator projection inflates apparent area.