Explore the World at Its True Relative Size
Explore countries and continents using the Equal Earth projection, an equal-area map designed to preserve relative surface area across the entire globe without the extreme polar distortion of traditional maps.
Explore the Interactive Map
Search for a country, select it on the map, or switch to the 3D globe. Select two countries to compare their actual surface areas without Mercator distortion.
India
Asia • COUNTRYIndia is the 7th-largest country by area. The Equal Earth projection reveals its massive scale compared to European nations.
How Large Are Countries Really?
Compare true land surface areas side-by-side to understand relative geographic scale without projection bias.
Africa vs Greenland
Mercator makes Greenland appear equal in size to Africa. In reality, Africa (30.37M km²) is over 14 times larger than Greenland (2.16M km²).
Explore comparison →India vs France
India (3.29M km²) is approximately 5.1 times larger than metropolitan France (0.64M km²), easily holding multiple European nations.
Explore comparison →USA vs India
Comparing the 3rd and 7th largest nations: the United States (9.83M km²) is roughly 3.0 times larger in total land surface area than India.
Explore comparison →Australia vs India
Australia covers 7.69M km² — more than 2.3 times the size of India, spanning an entire continent in the southern hemisphere.
Explore comparison →Russia vs Africa
Russia is Earth's largest country at 17.10M km², but the African continent (30.37M km²) is nearly 1.8 times larger than all of Russia.
Explore comparison →Africa vs Europe
The entire European continent covers 10.18M km². Africa (30.37M km²) is nearly 3 times larger than all European nations combined.
Explore comparison →Compare Any Two Countries On Demand
Choose any two countries from our database of 170+ nations to compute exact area ratios, side-by-side rankings, and distortion-free overlays.
⚖️ Launch Country Comparison Tool →Explore Continents on Equal Earth
See how Earth's 7 continents compare in verified land surface area and global proportion.
Asia
44,579,000 km²
Earth's largest continent, spanning 48 nations from the Levant to Japan.
Africa
30,370,000 km²
Second largest continent; over 14× larger than Greenland with 54 nations.
North America
24,709,000 km²
Encompassing Canada, the US, Mexico, Greenland, and Central America.
Antarctica
14,200,000 km²
1.4× larger than Europe, sized without infinite polar distortion.
Europe
10,180,000 km²
Roughly one-third the size of Africa; home to 44 sovereign nations.
Oceania
8,525,989 km²
Spans thousands of Pacific islands led by Australia and New Zealand.
World Country Area Rankings
Searchable directory of world countries ranked by verified land surface area.
| Rank | Country | Continent | Area (km²) | Area (mi²) | % of World Land | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇷🇺Russia |
Europe / Asia | 17,098,242 | 6,601,668 | 11.48% | Compare |
| 2 | 🇨🇦Canada |
North America | 9,984,670 | 3,855,103 | 6.70% | Compare |
| 3 | North America | 9,833,517 | 3,796,742 | 6.60% | Compare | |
| 4 | 🇨🇳China |
Asia | 9,596,961 | 3,705,407 | 6.44% | Compare |
| 5 | 🇧🇷Brazil |
South America | 8,515,767 | 3,287,956 | 5.72% | Compare |
| 6 | Oceania | 7,692,024 | 2,969,907 | 5.16% | Compare | |
| 7 | 🇮🇳India |
Asia | 3,287,263 | 1,269,219 | 2.21% | Compare |
| 8 | South America | 2,780,400 | 1,073,518 | 1.87% | Compare | |
| 9 | Asia | 2,724,900 | 1,052,090 | 1.83% | Compare | |
| 10 | 🇩🇿Algeria |
Africa | 2,381,741 | 919,595 | 1.60% | Compare |
| 11 | 🇨🇩DR Congo |
Africa | 2,344,858 | 905,355 | 1.57% | Compare |
| 12 | North America | 2,166,086 | 836,330 | 1.45% | Compare | |
| 13 | Asia | 2,149,690 | 830,000 | 1.44% | Compare | |
| 14 | 🇲🇽Mexico |
North America | 1,964,375 | 758,449 | 1.32% | Compare |
| 15 | Asia | 1,904,569 | 735,358 | 1.28% | Compare |
Geographic Realities
Authentic calculations and scale realities that common classroom maps disguise.
Greenland's True Island Scale
At $72^\circ\text{ N}$ latitude, Mercator stretches Greenland by $\sec(72^\circ) \approx 3.24$ in both directions, creating an apparent 10.5× area inflation. On Equal Earth, Greenland is revealed as roughly the same size as Saudi Arabia or Mexico, not an entire continent.
Compare Greenland vs Saudi Arabia →European Nations Inside India
India covers 3,287,263 km². You can simultaneously fit France ($643\text{k}$), Germany ($357\text{k}$), the UK ($243\text{k}$), Spain ($505\text{k}$), Italy ($301\text{k}$), Poland ($312\text{k}$), and Sweden ($450\text{k}$) inside India with over $470,000\text{ km}^2$ remaining.
Explore India's scale vs Europe →Africa's Continental Scale
At 30,370,000 km², Africa spans more land area than the contiguous United States, China, India, Japan, and all of Eastern and Western Europe combined. Equal Earth correctly displays Africa at its true scale.
Inspect Africa's true landmass →Brazil vs Australia
Brazil spans 8,515,767 km², making it substantially larger than the entire Australian continent (7,692,024 km²), despite Mercator maps visually shrinking equatorial South America.
Compare Brazil vs Australia →Cartography & Projection Guides
Authoritative educational resources on map projection mathematics, distortion geometry, and history.
Guide to Map Projections
How cartographers flatten a spherical Earth and quantify distortion with Tissot's Indicatrix.
Read Guide →The Mercator Dilemma
Why rhumb lines made Mercator famous in 1569, and why polar landmasses inflate exponentially.
Read Guide →History of Equal-Area Maps
From Gall-Peters to Robinson and Equal Earth: the 200-year evolution of true-area cartography.
Read Guide →True Size of Continents
10 major geographic scale myths debunked with verified satellite geodesy and true surface areas.
Read Guide →Educator's Teaching Guide
Classroom lesson plans, spatial literacy exercises, and discussion prompts for geography educators.
Read Guide →Frequently Asked Questions
Cartographic and technical answers about the Equal Earth projection and true-size geography.
What is the Equal Earth map projection?
The Equal Earth projection is an equal-area pseudocylindrical map projection created in 2018 by cartographers Bojan Šavrič, Bernhard Jenny, and Tom Patterson. It shows all countries and continents at their mathematically exact proportional land areas while maintaining natural continental curvature.
How does Equal Earth differ from Mercator?
While the Mercator projection preserves directional angles for marine compass navigation, it severely distorts size toward the poles. Equal Earth preserves relative area perfectly everywhere, meaning Greenland correctly appears roughly the size of Saudi Arabia, and Africa is accurately shown 14 times larger than Greenland.
How does the 3D globe mode work?
Our interactive 3D globe mode renders Earth on a true mathematical sphere using WebGL. When you search or click any country, the globe smoothly rotates to center that nation upright in the middle of your screen with zero lag.
Can I compare true country sizes directly?
Yes. Use our True Size Country Comparison Tool to compare any two nations or territories side by side in square kilometers (km²) and square miles (mi²).
What dataset is used for country surface areas?
We use recognized geodetic survey data from the United Nations Statistics Division, CIA World Factbook, and Natural Earth geodata. Read our full Data & Methodology.
Is Equal Earth suitable for education?
Yes! Equal Earth was designed as a visually appealing, accurate alternative for schools, textbook publishers, newsrooms, and GIS professionals to prevent spatial misconceptions about continent sizes.