How big is Somalia really?
Somalia covers 474,000 km² (183,000 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 Somalia 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.
Somalia in numbers
- Somalia is the 54th largest of the 196 countries and territories in Globegami.
- Countries of about the same true size: Cameroon (475,442 km²), Papua New Guinea (462,840 km²), Turkmenistan (491,210 km²).
- Somalia is 1.95 times the size of the United Kingdom.
Why the map gets Somalia wrong
Somalia lies around 5°N. A Mercator map stretches distances there by about 1.0 times in every direction, which barely changes its size. 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 Somalia 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