How big is Albania really?
Albania covers 28,748 km² (11,100 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 1.76 times bigger than it really is.
See Albania 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.
Albania in numbers
- Albania is the 143rd largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map Albania looks bigger than Bhutan, but Bhutan is really 1.34 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Solomon Islands (28,400 km²), Equatorial Guinea (28,051 km²), Burundi (27,834 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 8.4 times the size of Albania.
Why the map gets Albania wrong
Albania lies around 41°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.33 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 1.76 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 Albania 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