Indonesia vs Western Sahara

Indonesia is 7.16 times larger than Western Sahara. Western Sahara would fit into Indonesia about 7.2 times.

IndonesiaWestern SaharaIndonesia moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
7.16×
Indonesia is 7.16× the area of Western Sahara.
IndonesiaWestern Sahara
Area1,904,570 km²266,000 km²
Population285,721,236612,000
Density150 / km²2.3 / km²
CapitalJakarta
RegionSouth-Eastern AsiaNorthern Africa
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours33

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Indonesia sits at about 2°S and is stretched to 1.0× 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 Indonesia bigger than Western Sahara?
Yes. Indonesia is 7.16 times larger than Western Sahara. Indonesia covers 1,904,570 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
How many times does Western Sahara fit into Indonesia?
About 7.2 times: Indonesia has 7.16× the area of Western Sahara.
Why do Indonesia and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Indonesia is drawn about 1.0× 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, Indonesia or Western Sahara?
Indonesia: 285,721,236 people against 612,000. Density: Indonesia 150 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².