Botswana vs Mauritania
Mauritania is 77% larger than Botswana. Botswana would fit into Mauritania about 1.8 times.
BotswanaMauritaniaBotswana moved onto Mauritania · Equal-area projection
0.56×
Botswana is 0.56× the area of Mauritania. Put the other way, Mauritania is 1.77× the size of Botswana.
| Botswana | Mauritania | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 581,737 km² | 1,030,700 km² |
| Population | 2,562,122 | 5,315,065 |
| Density | 4.4 / km² | 5.2 / km² |
| Capital | Gaborone | Nouakchott |
| Region | Southern Africa | Western Africa |
| Coastline | Landlocked | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 3 | 4 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Botswana sits at about 22°S and is stretched to 1.17× its true area; Mauritania at 20° N is stretched to 1.14×. Here the two are distorted about the same amount, so Mercator gets this pair roughly right. The figure above uses the Equal Earth projection, where every square kilometre is drawn the same size.
Questions about this pair
- Is Botswana bigger than Mauritania?
- No. Botswana is 44% smaller than Mauritania. Botswana covers 581,737 km² and Mauritania covers 1,030,700 km².
- How many times does Botswana fit into Mauritania?
- About 1.8 times: Mauritania has 1.77× the area of Botswana.
- Why do Botswana and Mauritania look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Botswana is drawn about 1.17× its true area there and Mauritania about 1.14×. For this pair the distortion is similar, so Mercator gets the comparison roughly right. Kartavera uses Equal Earth, where every square kilometre is drawn the same size.
- Which has more people, Botswana or Mauritania?
- Mauritania: 5,315,065 people against 2,562,122. Density: Botswana 4.4 per km², Mauritania 5.2 per km².