Cook Islands vs Mauritania

Mauritania is 4,295 times larger than Cook Islands. Cook Islands would fit into Mauritania about 4295 times.

Cook IslandsMauritaniaCook Islands moved onto Mauritania · Equal-area projection
0.0×
Cook Islands is 0.0× the area of Mauritania. Put the other way, Mauritania is 4,295× the size of Cook Islands.
Cook IslandsMauritania
Area240 km²1,030,700 km²
Population14,2225,315,065
Density59 / km²5.2 / km²
CapitalAvaruaNouakchott
RegionPolynesiaWestern Africa
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours04

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Cook Islands sits at about 21°S and is stretched to 1.15× 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 Cook Islands bigger than Mauritania?
No. Cook Islands is 4,295 times smaller than Mauritania. Cook Islands covers 240 km² and Mauritania covers 1,030,700 km².
How many times does Cook Islands fit into Mauritania?
About 4295 times: Mauritania has 4,295× the area of Cook Islands.
Why do Cook Islands and Mauritania look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Cook Islands is drawn about 1.15× 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, Cook Islands or Mauritania?
Mauritania: 5,315,065 people against 14,222. Density: Cook Islands 59 per km², Mauritania 5.2 per km².