El Salvador vs Western Sahara
Western Sahara is 12.6 times larger than El Salvador. El Salvador would fit into Western Sahara about 13 times.
El SalvadorWestern SaharaEl Salvador moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
0.08×
El Salvador is 0.08× the area of Western Sahara. Put the other way, Western Sahara is 12.6× the size of El Salvador.
| El Salvador | Western Sahara | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 21,041 km² | 266,000 km² |
| Population | 6,365,503 | 612,000 |
| Density | 303 / km² | 2.3 / km² |
| Capital | San Salvador | — |
| Region | Central America | Northern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 2 | 3 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. El Salvador sits at about 14°N and is stretched to 1.06× 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 El Salvador bigger than Western Sahara?
- No. El Salvador is 12.6 times smaller than Western Sahara. El Salvador covers 21,041 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
- How many times does El Salvador fit into Western Sahara?
- About 13 times: Western Sahara has 12.6× the area of El Salvador.
- Why do El Salvador and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. El Salvador is drawn about 1.06× 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, El Salvador or Western Sahara?
- El Salvador: 6,365,503 people against 612,000. Density: El Salvador 303 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².