Sweden on five projections
Sweden covers 447,972 km² of ground. Mercator draws it 4.88 times over. Area and shape readings on all five projections, each one measured.
Sweden and Cameroon
Sweden covers 447,972 km² and Cameroon 462,343 - Cameroon larger by 3.2 percent. Sweden's anchor is at 62.4° N and Cameroon's at 5.7° N, 57 degrees apart. Mercator inflates Sweden 4.88 times and leaves Cameroon almost alone.
Sudan and Indonesia are larger too
Sudan is 4.14 times Sweden's true area and Indonesia 4.08. Mercator draws both smaller. Papua New Guinea is 1.041 times Sweden, and that is equally invisible.
This object
- True area
- 447,972 km²
- Anchor latitude
- 62.4° N
- Angular radius
- 7.2°
- Draggable latitude range
- -78.2° … 78.6°
On five projections
Each number is measured against its own projection's equator, not against another projection. These five rows do not share an axis - they are five answers to the same question: what did this map give up to lay this place flat?
| Projection | Area distortion | Shape distortion |
|---|---|---|
| Equirectangular | 2.19 | 2.16 |
| Mercator | 4.88 | 1.00 constant |
| Natural Earth | 1.57 | 1.68 |
| Equal Earth | 1.00 constant | 1.89 |
| Gall-Peters | 1.00 constant | 2.33 |
Mercator inflates it most, 4.88 times over. Gall-Peters stretches it most: its long axis is 2.33 times its short one.
The same size, drawn otherwise
These are within 5 percent of Sweden's true area, and sit at a very different latitude. It is a fact about the Earth, and it is interesting because most projections disagree with it.
- Cameroon: Cameroon covers 462,344 km²; this covers 447,972. They sit 57 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 4.62 times the other.
- Papua New Guinea: Papua New Guinea covers 466,486 km²; this covers 447,972. They sit 56 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 4.60 times the other.
- Yemen: Yemen covers 457,291 km²; this covers 447,972. They sit 46 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 4.31 times the other.
- Iraq: Iraq covers 437,405 km²; this covers 447,972. They sit 29 degrees apart in latitude, and Mercator draws one 3.28 times the other.
Bigger than the map admits
These cover more ground than Sweden and Mercator draws them smaller anyway.
- Sudan: Sudan is truly 4.14 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.04 times bigger.
- Indonesia: Indonesia is truly 4.08 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.14 times bigger.
- Libya: Libya is truly 3.66 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.01 times bigger.
- Peru: Peru is truly 2.94 times larger, and Mercator still draws this one 1.55 times bigger.
On an equal-area projection this section is empty, for every object there is. An equal-area map draws in proportion to true area, so it cannot draw a larger thing smaller. That is a definition, not a coincidence.
Open it in the tool
Drag Sweden across the latitude bands and the readout follows.