Costa Rica vs Mauritania
Mauritania is 20.1 times larger than Costa Rica. Costa Rica would fit into Mauritania about 20 times.
Costa RicaMauritaniaCosta Rica moved onto Mauritania · Equal-area projection
0.05×
Costa Rica is 0.05× the area of Mauritania. Put the other way, Mauritania is 20.1× the size of Costa Rica.
| Costa Rica | Mauritania | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 51,180 km² | 1,030,700 km² |
| Population | 5,152,950 | 5,315,065 |
| Density | 101 / km² | 5.2 / km² |
| Capital | San Jose | Nouakchott |
| Region | Central America | Western Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 2 | 4 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Costa Rica sits at about 10°N and is stretched to 1.03× 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 Costa Rica bigger than Mauritania?
- No. Costa Rica is 20.1 times smaller than Mauritania. Costa Rica covers 51,180 km² and Mauritania covers 1,030,700 km².
- How many times does Costa Rica fit into Mauritania?
- About 20 times: Mauritania has 20.1× the area of Costa Rica.
- Why do Costa Rica and Mauritania look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Costa Rica is drawn about 1.03× 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, Costa Rica or Mauritania?
- Mauritania: 5,315,065 people against 5,152,950. Density: Costa Rica 101 per km², Mauritania 5.2 per km².