How big is Puerto Rico really?
Puerto Rico covers 9,104 km² (3,520 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn close to its true size: it lies near the equator, where the usual world map stretches little.
See Puerto Rico 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.
Puerto Rico in numbers
- Puerto Rico is the 169th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- Countries of about the same true size: Lebanon (10,452 km²), French Southern Lands (7,829 km²), Kosovo (10,887 km²).
- The United Kingdom is 27 times the size of Puerto Rico.
Why the map gets Puerto Rico wrong
Puerto Rico lies around 18°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.05 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 1.11 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 Puerto Rico 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