Country Size Comparison
Pick any two countries and see their outlines side by side at identical map scale, with true spherical areas in km² and a plain-English size ratio.
Quick answer: Compare two countries at true scale — no Mercator distortion. Coverage: Worldwide. No account is required.
Worked examples
- Small pin map — A handful of labelled pins is usually clearer than dozens of unstyled markers. Use categories or colours only when they carry meaning.
- Shareable state — When a tool stores settings in the URL, recipients can reopen the same configuration without an account.
- Export choice — PNG is useful for presentation; GeoJSON or CSV is better when the data needs to remain editable.
Limits & appropriate use
Custom maps inherit two honest limits: the basemap's and the message's. The basemap is OpenStreetMap's current picture with its ODbL attribution ask, and its gaps — new roads, thin rural detail — travel into every export that includes tiles. The message limit is design's classic one: a map can carry one argument well, and beyond a few dozen symbols the right instrument changes to data-driven mapping with clustering and categories. Both limits are stated where they matter, because the alternative is a beautiful figure that misleads its own author.
Within those bounds the workflow is complete and durable: pins, labels, colours, tight framing, pixel-ratio PNG for the slide, GeoJSON/CSV for the record, URL-state for the living version. Escalation is gentle by design — choropleths and territory shading belong to GIS with real boundaries (the blank-map library and GeoJSON exports feed it), cartographic print production wants vector pipelines, and brand-strict design systems want tokens this tool deliberately doesn't fake.
- Data-dense maps → CSV-to-map with clustering and category colour.
- Boundary shading/choropleth → GIS with census or OSM boundaries.
- Print cartography → vector exports into a design pipeline.
Data & methodology
Map imagery derives from OpenStreetMap via OpenFreeMap (ODbL attribution applies to reused basemap images); your pins and labels live only in the share URL.
For source details, licences and model limitations, see Data Sources and Methodology.
Related tools
Category: Map Creation. Results are intended for everyday analysis and planning unless a page explicitly states otherwise.
How to use
- 1Type or pick Country A and Country B.
- 2Read the headline ratio and each country's true area.
- 3Use Swap to flip the comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Why do countries look bigger on most maps?
The Mercator projection stretches areas near the poles — Greenland looks as big as Africa on it, but Africa is about 14× larger in reality. This tool draws both countries at the same scale.
Are the km² figures accurate?
Areas are computed as true spherical areas from the country polygons — no projection stretching. Outlines use a simplified world dataset, so figures are approximate at the percent level.
How is the comparison drawn?
Both outlines are rendered with the exact same degrees-to-pixels scale and centered in their boxes, so on-screen sizes are directly comparable.
Can I compare more than two countries?
Compare two at a time. Run a second comparison to chain results — e.g. compare A vs B, then B vs C.
Why does Russia look cut off?
Russia crosses the antimeridian (180°). The simplified outline spans the full width; its area figure is still correct.