How big is Belgium really?
Belgium covers 30,688 km² (11,800 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 2.5 times bigger than it really is.
See Belgium 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.
Belgium in numbers
- Belgium is the 140th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map Belgium looks bigger than Panama, but Panama is really 2.4 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Lesotho (30,355 km²), Armenia (29,743 km²), Albania (28,748 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 7.9 times the size of Belgium.
Why the map gets Belgium wrong
Belgium lies around 51°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.58 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 2.5 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 Belgium 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