True Size Globe

Countries on a True Globe

Spin the orthographic globe to compare countries at their real scale.

Follow the author

True-size globe view

Drag to rotate the Earth. Use the comparison set to center a country.

Loading globe...

Drag to spin the globe. The comparison set stays at true scale. Hold Cmd/Ctrl to drag countries.

True Globe Guide

Compare country sizes on a true globe

Spin an orthographic globe to compare countries at their real scale, free of the Mercator distortion that inflates places near the poles. Then drop a country onto the Moon, Mars, or another planet to see how it measures up against other worlds.

How to use the globe

  1. Pick a country from the list.
  2. Drag to spin the globe and view it from any angle.
  3. Switch on a planet to compare the country against that world.

Why a globe beats a flat map

A flat Mercator map stretches land toward the poles, so Greenland and Russia look far larger than they are. A globe keeps relative areas honest, which is why country comparisons look so different here.

More interactive map tools

FAQ

Why compare country sizes on a globe instead of a flat map?

A globe shows land area without Mercator distortion, so high-latitude countries like Greenland and Russia stop looking oversized. An orthographic globe is the closest a screen gets to true relative area.

How do countries compare to other planets and moons?

Dropping a country onto another world shows scale directly. The Moon has about 38 million km² of surface, roughly a quarter of Earth’s land area, while Mars has about 145 million km², close to all of Earth’s land combined.

What is an orthographic globe projection?

It renders Earth as if viewed from deep space: the visible hemisphere keeps its round shape and near-true areas around the center, unlike a flat map that has to stretch the poles.

Which countries look most distorted on flat world maps?

Greenland, Russia, Canada, and Antarctica are the most exaggerated, because Mercator stretching grows with distance from the equator.