How big is Romania really?
Romania covers 238,397 km² (92,000 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 2.1 times bigger than it really is.
See Romania 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.
Romania in numbers
- Romania is the 82nd largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- On the map Romania looks bigger than Cameroon, but Cameroon is really 1.99 times larger.
- Countries of about the same true size: Ghana (238,535 km²), Laos (236,800 km²), Uganda (241,038 km²).
- Romania and the United Kingdom are about the same size.
Why the map gets Romania wrong
Romania lies around 46°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.44 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 2.1 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 Romania 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