Is Canada much bigger than Brazil?
On the Mercator map found on many classroom walls, Canada looks about 5½ times the size of Brazil. In reality it's only 17% bigger. And Alaska, which looks 3½ times the size of Mexico, is actually smaller.
Canada looks 5½× Brazil
Canada is 1.17× Brazil
Alaska looks 3½× Mexico
Mexico is actually 15% bigger
Each row uses one scale for both columns, so you can compare shapes across it. Real outlines; the Mercator shapes are cut from a world Mercator map, the true-size shapes from an equal-area map.
Canada looks 5½ times Brazil’s size; it’s only 17% bigger. A Mercator map stretches places more the farther they are from the equator. Near the equator, Brazil barely changes. At 60° north, where much of Canada and Alaska sit, area is blown up about 4 times, and it keeps growing toward the pole. The map isn't wrong: Gerardus Mercator designed it in 1569 so sailors could draw a straight line and follow one compass heading. Keeping every coastline's shape true for navigation forces the far north and south to swell.
A tool built for one job can mislead you when it's used for another. The map that's perfect for steering a ship is a poor one for comparing how big countries are.
What do you judge by how big it looks on a map?
Why the stretch grows toward the poles
On a globe, lines of longitude squeeze together toward the poles. On a Mercator map they are drawn straight up and down, evenly spaced, so everything far from the equator is stretched sideways. At 60° north, the lines are really half as far apart as at the equator, so the map stretches that area 2 times sideways.
To keep shapes true, Mercator stretches north–south by the same amount. Two times sideways and two times up-and-down makes the area 4 times too big at 60°. At 70° it's about 8.5 times, and at 80° it's over 30 times, which is why Mercator maps usually stop well short of the poles.
Most of Canada and Alaska lies north of 50°, while Brazil and Mexico lie within about 35° of the equator. Measured across their real outlines, Canada is drawn about 5.1 times too large and Alaska about 5.4 times, while Brazil is only about 1.06 times and Mexico about 1.2 times.
See the numbers
| Place | Real area | How much Mercator enlarges it |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 3,288,000 sq mi (8,516,000 km²) | about 1.06× |
| Mexico | 762,000 sq mi (1,973,000 km²) | about 1.2× |
| Canada | 3,855,000 sq mi (9,985,000 km²) | about 5.1× |
| Alaska | 663,000 sq mi (1,718,000 km²) | about 5.4× |
Is Canada even the 2nd-biggest country? It depends what you count.
By total area, Canada is 2nd, behind only Russia. But about 9% of Canada is lakes and rivers: 344,000 sq mi (891,000 km²), more than the area of Texas. Count land only, and both China and the United States pass it.
| Country | Total area | Land only | Rank by total | Rank by land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 3.86M sq mi (9.98M km²) | 3.51M sq mi (9.09M km²) | 2 | 4 |
| China | 3.71M sq mi (9.60M km²) | 3.60M sq mi (9.33M km²) | 3 | 2 |
| United States | 3.68M sq mi (9.53M km²) | 3.53M sq mi (9.15M km²) | 4* | 3 |
*Some sources, such as the CIA World Factbook, also count U.S. coastal and territorial waters, which gives the U.S. 3.80M sq mi (9.83M km²) and moves it ahead of China. Russia is 1st every way you count it.
Explore more about how maps change sizes
Africa Is 14 Greenlands shows the most famous Mercator distortion, and True Size of Africa shows how many countries fit inside Africa. Gall-Peters vs Mercator shows what happens when you fix size instead of shape.
Related exhibits
Sources: Total areas from Wikipedia (Canada 9,984,670 km²; Brazil 8,515,767 km²; Mexico 1,972,550 km²; Alaska 1,717,856 km²). Mercator area formula (stretch of 1/cos² of latitude) from Wikipedia, "Mercator projection." Map outlines from Natural Earth (1:50m countries; 1:10m states for Alaska). Enlargement factors and the "5½×" and "3½×" map ratios were measured by projecting each real outline in Mercator and in an equal-area projection and comparing the areas. Land and water areas for Canada, China, and the United States from Wikipedia, "List of countries and dependencies by area" (UN Statistics Division totals; FAO land areas); U.S. total including coastal and territorial waters from the CIA World Factbook; Texas area 268,596 sq mi from Wikipedia.