How big is Luxembourg really?
Luxembourg covers 2,593 km² (1,000 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 2.4 times bigger than it really is.
See Luxembourg 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.
Luxembourg in numbers
- Luxembourg is the 180th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map Luxembourg looks bigger than Brunei, but Brunei is really 2.2 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Samoa (2,842 km²), Siachen Glacier (2,130 km²), Mauritius (2,040 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 94 times the size of Luxembourg.
Why the map gets Luxembourg wrong
Luxembourg lies around 50°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.55 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 2.4 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 Luxembourg 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