How big is Portugal really?
Portugal covers 92,225 km² (35,600 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 1.69 times bigger than it really is.
See Portugal 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.
Portugal in numbers
- Portugal is the 111th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map Portugal looks bigger than Nicaragua, but Nicaragua is really 1.3 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Hungary (93,011 km²), Western Sahara (90,800 km²), Jordan (89,341 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 2.6 times the size of Portugal.
Why the map gets Portugal wrong
Portugal lies around 40°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.3 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 1.69 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 Portugal 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