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Biggest Countries on the Mercator Projection

Which countries appear the largest on a Mercator Projection of the world?
Change = change in apparent size compared to an equal area map
Using a latitude cutoff of 85.0511°
Does not include autonomous regions such as GREENLAND!
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 13, 2023
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First submittedNovember 20, 2020
Times taken27,075
Average score85.7%
Rating4.85
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Rank
% Change
Country
1
+54
Russia
2
+63
Canada
3
-28
United States
4
-51
China
5
-60
Australia
6
-66
Brazil
7
-28
Kazakhstan
8
-51
Argentina
9
-62
India
10
+236
Norway
11
-32
Mongolia
Rank
% Change
Country
12
-60
Algeria
13
-62
Mexico
14
-68
D. R. Congo
15
-66
Saudi Arabia
16
-56
Iran
17
+53
Sweden
18
-63
Libya
19
-66
Sudan
20
-68
Indonesia
21
+70
Finland
+37
Level ∞
Nov 22, 2020
This quiz is based on original research. I took data from Natural Earth, projected it onto a Mercator map, and then used a script to compute the area.

Almost every country, except for those in the far north, appears smaller in the Mercator Projection than on an equal area map.

Antarctica, on the other hand, is more than 6 times larger on the Mercator Projection.

If we counted Greenland, it would appear as the 3rd largest country, ahead of the United States.

+14
Level 62
Nov 22, 2020
Good Quiz. Would love to see one about countries with the greatest / lowest % change.
+16
Level 69
Nov 22, 2020
Out of curiosity, what about Denmark? You know, Greenland...

Would it take first place?

+6
Level 84
Nov 23, 2020
I have a Van der Grinten projection map as my dining room table, which is close to the Mercator. Russia dwarfs it by quite a lot, and Canada and USA are both larger as well. I suspect on the mercator that Russia would still be largest and Canada still bigger, largely due to them being fairly close in latitude. Greenland/Denmark probably come in third?
+6
Level 55
Sep 6, 2021
But Greenland is about the size of Africa on Mercator.
+4
Level 66
Jan 25, 2022
Yes, and Russia is EVEN BIGGER than that.
+3
Level 56
Sep 7, 2023
No. Africa is about 78% bigger than Russia.
+3
Level 65
Oct 6, 2023
But this is Mercator, and Russia's in the north...
+4
Level 92
Nov 22, 2020
Not sure I'm understanding how the countries are ranked - absolute gain/loss of size irrespective of the % changes shown?
+18
Level 82
Nov 22, 2020
They are ranked by size as it appears on Mercator projection. The percentages are just for orientation.
+2
Level 68
Nov 22, 2020
Good quiz!
+4
Level 65
Nov 22, 2020
Nice quiz! Too bad I only missed India, but I got 100% the next time :)
+8
Level 67
Nov 22, 2020
Mercator Projection is the evil of all maps
+5
Level 57
Nov 29, 2020
How so? I think it does a pretty good job at representing relative shape. And if you think about it, in schools, you are mostly talking about your own country, so it makes sense to know what shape your country is. It sacrifices size, but honestly there is no good option, other than a plain old globe
+2
Level 67
Nov 29, 2020
No it's not a good representation of country shapes either. Look at Canada or Russia for example.
+6
Level 64
Dec 9, 2020
Well, it is difficult to draw a sphere on a flat surface.
+5
Level 24
Sep 8, 2021
I mean I don't know about you but like 90% of geography is about other countries in my countries education system
+6
Level 65
Dec 13, 2021
I believe the Mercator map was originally used by explorers, so going from one place to another shows a straight line, rather than a curved one
+1
Level 76
Sep 6, 2022
That, and I believe Europeans were in no rush to eradicate it, given how much larger their world was depicted.
+1
Level 75
Apr 26, 2023
Was it really? It mostly enlarges Canada and Russia. Most of Europe is at a similar latitude as Kazakhstan and Mongolia, which are already smaller on the Mercator projection. European colonialism can be blamed for many things, but I think with the maps, sticking with the unperfect system we still use today was a matter of convenience rather than malice.
+2
Level 62
Jan 29, 2023
It's a great map if you use it for what it was intended to be used for. It was made so explorers could go from one place to another in a straight line on a map, rather than a curved one, because such a course is much easier to follow on sea. Anyone using the projection for anything else just knows nothing about geography.
+2
Level 77
Nov 22, 2020
Is this the least-taken featured quiz?
+9
Level 84
Nov 23, 2020
I'm surprised that the US is underrepresented, given that Alaska is made to look like it's larger than the lower 48 states.
+3
Level 84
Nov 23, 2020
This animation from Wikipedia shows almost all countries shrinking. The lower 48 shrink a bit, and Alaska is several times smaller.
+2
Level 70
Nov 29, 2020
That would be because the animation is designed to make all the equatorial countries stay the same size.
+1
Level 76
Sep 6, 2022
Contiguous...they are south, not low, and Hawaii is "lower" then them all.
+1
Level 82
Nov 24, 2020
Fantastic!
+1
Level 55
Nov 29, 2020
Great!
+1
Level 68
Nov 29, 2020
Thought of the last one with 1 sec to spare and didn't have time to type it in. 20/21 😩
+1
Level 70
Nov 29, 2020
For anyone wondering why so many red countries appear on the list, the numbers would be changed a lot depending on where the map was cut off near the poles. Because the true Mercator projection is infinitely tall, and all countries occupy a finite space on it, every country would shrink by 100% if the projection was cut off at 90° N/S.
+1
Level 61
Feb 23, 2021
I thought I typed Algeria but apparently not :)

19/20

+1
Level 26
Feb 24, 2021
who missed Russia? and the USA? and china?
+1
Level 65
Oct 6, 2023
1%, 2%, and 4% of people
+2
Level 60
Feb 13, 2022
If this doesn't count autonomous regions, then why is china so high on the list? Isn't it like half autonomous regions?
+3
Level 72
Feb 19, 2024
Their "autonomous regions" aren't very autonomous. It's meant to exclude territories, namely Greenland.
+1
Level 66
Mar 29, 2022
Nice!
+1
Level 46
Dec 8, 2023
greenland in all caps, nice
+2
Level 46
Jan 12, 2024
I bet Norwegians love the Mercator projection.
+3
Level 55
Feb 18, 2024
Surprising how 3 Scandinavian countries turn out to be massive like the others!
+2
Level 50
Feb 20, 2024
I knew Norway looked bigger but holy cow, that is way bigger.
+1
Level 65
Feb 18, 2024
Really this shows no regional or political advantage and most of the countries appear smaller
+1
Level 50
Feb 20, 2024
HOW DID I MISS BRAZIL!!! Only one missed.