How big is Hong Kong really?
Hong Kong covers 1,106 km² (427 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 1.17 times bigger than it really is.
See Hong Kong 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.
Hong Kong in numbers
- Hong Kong is the 186th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- Countries of about the same true size: São Tomé and Principe (1,001 km²), Faroe Islands (1,399 km²), Bahrain (787 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 219 times the size of Hong Kong.
Why the map gets Hong Kong wrong
Hong Kong lies around 22°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.08 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 1.17 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 Hong Kong 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