How big is France really?
France covers 553,000 km² (214,000 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 2.1 times bigger than it really is.
See France 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.
France in numbers
- France is the 49th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map France looks bigger than Colombia, but Colombia is really 2.1 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Kenya (581,309 km²), Botswana (581,737 km²), Morocco (582,000 km²).
- France is 2.3 times the size of the United Kingdom.
Why the map gets France wrong
France lies around 47°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.45 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 2.1 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 France 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.
Compare France
Areas: official totals including inland water (UN Statistics Division via Wikidata). Outlines: Natural Earth. How Globegami works