Cyprus vs Western Sahara

Western Sahara is 28.8 times larger than Cyprus. Cyprus would fit into Western Sahara about 29 times.

CyprusWestern SaharaCyprus moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
0.03×
Cyprus is 0.03× the area of Western Sahara. Put the other way, Western Sahara is 28.8× the size of Cyprus.
CyprusWestern Sahara
Area9,242 km²266,000 km²
Population1,370,754612,000
Density148 / km²2.3 / km²
CapitalNicosia
RegionWestern AsiaNorthern Africa
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours13

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Cyprus sits at about 35°N and is stretched to 1.49× 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 Cyprus bigger than Western Sahara?
No. Cyprus is 28.8 times smaller than Western Sahara. Cyprus covers 9,242 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
How many times does Cyprus fit into Western Sahara?
About 29 times: Western Sahara has 28.8× the area of Cyprus.
Why do Cyprus and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Cyprus is drawn about 1.49× 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, Cyprus or Western Sahara?
Cyprus: 1,370,754 people against 612,000. Density: Cyprus 148 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².