How big is the Falkland Islands really?
The Falkland Islands covers 12,200 km² (4,710 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 2.6 times bigger than it really is.
See the Falkland Islands 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.
The Falkland Islands in numbers
- The Falkland Islands is the 162nd largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map the Falkland Islands looks bigger than the Solomon Islands, but the Solomon Islands is really 2.3 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Vanuatu (12,190 km²), Qatar (11,586 km²), Gambia (11,300 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 20 times the size of the Falkland Islands.
Why the map gets the Falkland Islands wrong
The Falkland Islands lies around 52°S. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.62 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 2.6 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 the Falkland Islands 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