How big is Russia really?
Russia covers 17,098,246 km² (6,600,000 sq mi). On the usual world map (the Mercator projection) it is drawn about 4.9 times bigger than it really is.
See Russia 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.
Russia in numbers
- Russia is the largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- Countries of about the same true size: Canada (9,984,670 km²), United States (9,826,675 km²), China (9,596,961 km²).
- Russia is 1.74 times the size of the United States.
Why the map gets Russia wrong
Russia lies around 66°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 2.4 times in every direction, so areas come out roughly 6 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 Russia 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.
Compare Russia
Areas: official totals including inland water (UN Statistics Division via Wikidata). Outlines: Natural Earth. How Globegami works