Liberia vs Western Sahara

Western Sahara is 2.39 times larger than Liberia. Liberia would fit into Western Sahara about 2.4 times.

LiberiaWestern SaharaLiberia moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
0.42×
Liberia is 0.42× the area of Western Sahara. Put the other way, Western Sahara is 2.39× the size of Liberia.
LiberiaWestern Sahara
Area111,369 km²266,000 km²
Population5,731,206612,000
Density51 / km²2.3 / km²
CapitalMonrovia
RegionWestern AfricaNorthern 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. Liberia sits at about 6°N and is stretched to 1.01× 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 Liberia bigger than Western Sahara?
No. Liberia is 2.39 times smaller than Western Sahara. Liberia covers 111,369 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
How many times does Liberia fit into Western Sahara?
About 2.4 times: Western Sahara has 2.39× the area of Liberia.
Why do Liberia and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Liberia is drawn about 1.01× 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, Liberia or Western Sahara?
Liberia: 5,731,206 people against 612,000. Density: Liberia 51 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².