How big is Latvia really?
Latvia covers 64,594 km² (24,900 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 3.3 times bigger than it really is.
See Latvia 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.
Latvia in numbers
- Latvia is the 125th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map Latvia looks bigger than Senegal, but Senegal is really 3 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Lithuania (65,300 km²), Sri Lanka (65,610 km²), Georgia (69,700 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 3.8 times the size of Latvia.
Why the map gets Latvia wrong
Latvia lies around 57°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.83 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 3.3 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 Latvia 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