Guinea-Bissau vs Western Sahara

Western Sahara is 7.36 times larger than Guinea-Bissau. Guinea-Bissau would fit into Western Sahara about 7.4 times.

Guinea-BissauWestern SaharaGuinea-Bissau moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
0.14×
Guinea-Bissau is 0.14× the area of Western Sahara. Put the other way, Western Sahara is 7.36× the size of Guinea-Bissau.
Guinea-BissauWestern Sahara
Area36,125 km²266,000 km²
Population2,249,515612,000
Density62 / km²2.3 / km²
CapitalBissau
RegionWestern AfricaNorthern Africa
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours23

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Guinea-Bissau sits at about 12°N and is stretched to 1.05× 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 Guinea-Bissau bigger than Western Sahara?
No. Guinea-Bissau is 7.36 times smaller than Western Sahara. Guinea-Bissau covers 36,125 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
How many times does Guinea-Bissau fit into Western Sahara?
About 7.4 times: Western Sahara has 7.36× the area of Guinea-Bissau.
Why do Guinea-Bissau and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Guinea-Bissau is drawn about 1.05× 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, Guinea-Bissau or Western Sahara?
Guinea-Bissau: 2,249,515 people against 612,000. Density: Guinea-Bissau 62 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².