How big is Afghanistan really?
Afghanistan covers 652,230 km² (252,000 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 1.45 times bigger than it really is.
See Afghanistan at its true size on the map →True size vs the map
Both drawn at the same scale. The map keeps shapes but swells everything away from the equator.
Afghanistan in numbers
- Afghanistan is the 41st largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map Afghanistan looks bigger than Venezuela, but Venezuela is really 1.4 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: South Sudan (644,329 km²), Myanmar (676,577 km²), Central African Republic (622,984 km²).
- Afghanistan is 2.7 times the size of the United Kingdom.
Why the map gets Afghanistan wrong
Afghanistan lies around 34°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.2 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 1.45 times too big near its middle. Most web maps use this projection because it keeps angles and shapes right for navigation, not because it shows sizes fairly.
In Globegami you can drag a copy of Afghanistan anywhere on Earth: it keeps its true size and grows or shrinks on the map as it moves, and you can fold the map back into a globe.
Areas: official totals including inland water (UN Statistics Division via Wikidata). Outlines: Natural Earth. How Globegami works