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Marshall Islands vs Western Sahara

Western Sahara is 1,470 times larger than Marshall Islands. Marshall Islands would fit into Western Sahara about 1470 times.

Marshall IslandsWestern SaharaMarshall Islands moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
0.0×
Marshall Islands is 0.0× the area of Western Sahara. Put the other way, Western Sahara is 1,470× the size of Marshall Islands.
Marshall IslandsWestern Sahara
Area181 km²266,000 km²
Population36,282612,000
Density200 / km²2.3 / km²
CapitalMajuro—
RegionMicronesiaNorthern Africa
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours03

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Marshall Islands sits at about 7°N and is stretched to 1.02× 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.

Open in the atlasLay Western Sahara over Marshall Islands

Questions about this pair

Is Marshall Islands bigger than Western Sahara?
No. Marshall Islands is 1,470 times smaller than Western Sahara. Marshall Islands covers 181 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
How many times does Marshall Islands fit into Western Sahara?
About 1470 times: Western Sahara has 1,470× the area of Marshall Islands.
Why do Marshall Islands and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Marshall Islands is drawn about 1.02× 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, Marshall Islands or Western Sahara?
Western Sahara: 612,000 people against 36,282. Density: Marshall Islands 200 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².
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