True size
True Size of Countries Quiz
The world map most of us know makes countries near the poles look far bigger than they are. Each question shows two countries as they appear on that map. Pick the one that is really bigger, then watch both redrawn at their real size.
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Finding your next challenge…
Why maps get country sizes wrong
Most world maps, including Google Maps and the classic classroom wall map, use the Mercator projection, drawn up in 1569 for sailors. It keeps shapes and compass directions right over small areas, so a straight line on the map is a constant compass bearing. The price is size: to keep shapes right, the map stretches everything away from the equator, east–west and north–south by the same amount.
That stretch grows with latitude. At 30° it is about 1.15× each way, so areas look a third too big. At 60°, the latitude of Oslo, Helsinki and Anchorage, it is 2× each way, so areas look 4 times too big. Greenland, at around 72°N, comes out about 16 times too big, which is why it looks as large as Africa when Africa is in fact 14 times bigger. At the poles the stretch becomes infinite, which is why Mercator maps stop short of them.
To compare real sizes you need an equal-area projection, which keeps every area in proportion and bends shapes instead. The reveals in this quiz draw each country with one (a Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on the country) at the same scale for both, so the outlines you see are in their true proportions.
Sources and method
Outlines: Natural Earth 1:50m admin-0 countries (public domain), simplified. Small islands and far-off territories (Hawaii, Svalbard, the Canary Islands, the Galápagos) are left out of the drawings.
Areas: CIA World Factbook total area (land and inland water); Greenland from the Factbook's Greenland entry. The drawings leave out lakes and tiny islands, so a few countries draw slightly smaller than their listed area.
Mercator outlines use a spherical Mercator (as web maps do) centred on each country; the stretch shown is the drawn Mercator area divided by the true area.