Egypt vs Mauritania
Mauritania and Egypt are almost exactly the same size.
EgyptMauritaniaEgypt moved onto Mauritania · Equal-area projection
0.98×
Egypt is 0.98× the area of Mauritania. Put the other way, Mauritania is 1.02× the size of Egypt.
| Egypt | Mauritania | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 1,010,408 km² | 1,030,700 km² |
| Population | 118,365,995 | 5,315,065 |
| Density | 117 / km² | 5.2 / km² |
| Capital | Cairo | Nouakchott |
| Region | Northern Africa | Western Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 4 | 4 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Egypt sits at about 26°N and is stretched to 1.25× 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 Egypt bigger than Mauritania?
- No. Egypt and Mauritania are almost exactly the same size. Egypt covers 1,010,408 km² and Mauritania covers 1,030,700 km².
- How many times does Egypt fit into Mauritania?
- About 1.0 times: Mauritania has 1.02× the area of Egypt.
- Why do Egypt and Mauritania look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Egypt is drawn about 1.25× 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, Egypt or Mauritania?
- Egypt: 118,365,995 people against 5,315,065. Density: Egypt 117 per km², Mauritania 5.2 per km².