Updated 19 October 2026.
Greenland can look surprisingly close to Africa in size on a familiar world map. That is an effect of the map’s projection, not a reliable comparison of their actual areas. Flattening the Earth forces a mapmaker to choose what to preserve and what to distort.
Why a round Earth causes trouble on a flat page
A globe can show the Earth’s surface without the same flattening problem. A flat map has to stretch, compress or interrupt that surface. As the US Geological Survey explains, no flat map preserves every combination of area, shape, distance and direction.
That does not make maps useless or dishonest. It means the map should suit the question. A map intended to help with navigation may make different compromises from one designed to compare the areas of continents.
What Mercator gets right, and what it stretches
The Mercator projection preserves local angles and represents constant-bearing routes as straight lines. Its familiar rectangular layout is useful for certain purposes, but its area distortion grows toward the poles.
That is why Greenland, northern Canada and Russia can look unusually large beside places nearer the equator. The comparison changes with latitude: there is no single percentage by which every country has been enlarged.
The illustration shows a Mercator-style world map. Use it to recognize the pattern of stretching, rather than measuring countries from the number of pixels they occupy.
Choose a map for the question you want to answer
| Your question | A useful starting point | What still needs care |
|---|---|---|
| Which country covers more area? | An equal-area world map and a consistent area dataset. | Whether figures include inland water or particular territories. |
| What is the overall shape and position? | A globe or an appropriate regional map. | Scale and the amount of detail shown. |
| How far is a particular journey? | A distance calculation for its endpoints. | A straight line on a flat world map may not be the shortest route. |
| How do I navigate locally? | A map designed for the area and task. | Its scale, date and route information. |
The USGS map projections guide compares these tradeoffs in more detail. An equal-area projection preserves area relationships, but shapes can look stretched or unfamiliar. That unfamiliar appearance is not evidence that its sizes are wrong.
How to make a fair size comparison
- Identify the map projection before comparing the drawings.
- Use an equal-area map or globe to check your visual impression.
- If you need a ratio, get both area figures from a consistent source and check the definitions.
- Divide the larger figure by the smaller one, then explain whether you compared land area or total area.
For example, a country total that includes inland water should not silently be compared with another country’s land-only figure. A map screenshot cannot resolve those definitions.
Decorative maps, including the large LEGO World Map set, serve a different purpose again. Check the underlying geography separately before treating any wall display as a measurement tool.
FAQs
Is Greenland really about the same size as Africa?
No. Mercator greatly enlarges Greenland’s appearance because it lies far north. Their actual areas are very different.
Is there one completely accurate flat world map?
No. A projection can preserve selected properties, but cannot preserve all of them across the entire Earth.
Does zooming in remove all distortion?
No. Changing scale does not change the projection’s underlying rules, although a suitable local projection can make distortion very small in its intended area.
Are all online maps Mercator maps?
No. Services and viewing modes use different projections. Check the map’s documentation rather than assuming its rectangular appearance tells the whole story.