Mauritius vs Western Sahara
Western Sahara is 130 times larger than Mauritius. Mauritius would fit into Western Sahara about 130 times.
MauritiusWestern SaharaMauritius moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
0.01×
Mauritius is 0.01× the area of Western Sahara. Put the other way, Western Sahara is 130× the size of Mauritius.
| Mauritius | Western Sahara | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 2,040 km² | 266,000 km² |
| Population | 1,243,741 | 612,000 |
| Density | 610 / km² | 2.3 / km² |
| Capital | Port Louis | — |
| Region | Eastern Africa | Northern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 0 | 3 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Mauritius sits at about 20°S and is stretched to 1.14× 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 Mauritius bigger than Western Sahara?
- No. Mauritius is 130 times smaller than Western Sahara. Mauritius covers 2,040 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
- How many times does Mauritius fit into Western Sahara?
- About 130 times: Western Sahara has 130× the area of Mauritius.
- Why do Mauritius and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Mauritius is drawn about 1.14× 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, Mauritius or Western Sahara?
- Mauritius: 1,243,741 people against 612,000. Density: Mauritius 610 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².