Chagos Islands vs Western Sahara
Western Sahara is 4,433 times larger than Chagos Islands. Chagos Islands would fit into Western Sahara about 4433 times.
Chagos IslandsWestern SaharaChagos Islands moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
0.0×
Chagos Islands is 0.0× the area of Western Sahara. Put the other way, Western Sahara is 4,433× the size of Chagos Islands.
| Chagos Islands | Western Sahara | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 60 km² | 266,000 km² |
| Population | 3,000 | 612,000 |
| Density | 50 / km² | 2.3 / km² |
| Capital | Diego Garcia | — |
| Region | Seven seas (open ocean) | Northern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 0 | 3 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Chagos Islands sits at about 7°S and is stretched to 1.02× its true area; Western Sahara at 24° N is stretched to 1.2×. 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 Chagos Islands bigger than Western Sahara?
- No. Chagos Islands is 4,433 times smaller than Western Sahara. Chagos Islands covers 60 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
- How many times does Chagos Islands fit into Western Sahara?
- About 4433 times: Western Sahara has 4,433× the area of Chagos Islands.
- Why do Chagos Islands and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Chagos Islands is drawn about 1.02× its true area there and Western Sahara about 1.2×. 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, Chagos Islands or Western Sahara?
- Western Sahara: 612,000 people against 3,000. Density: Chagos Islands 50 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².