How big is Åland really?

True size vs the map

Both drawn at the same scale. The map keeps shapes but swells everything away from the equator.

Åland in numbers

• Åland is the 184th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
• On the map Åland looks bigger than Brunei, but Brunei is really 3.6 times larger.
• Countries of about the same true size: Faroe Islands (1,399 km²), Comoros (2,034 km²), Mauritius (2,040 km²).
• The United Kingdom is 153 times the size of Åland.

Why the map gets Åland wrong

Åland lies around 60°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 2 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 4.1 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 Åland 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.