Namibia vs Western Sahara
Namibia is 3.1 times larger than Western Sahara. Western Sahara would fit into Namibia about 3.1 times.
NamibiaWestern SaharaNamibia moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
3.1×
Namibia is 3.1× the area of Western Sahara.
| Namibia | Western Sahara | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 825,615 km² | 266,000 km² |
| Population | 3,092,816 | 612,000 |
| Density | 3.7 / km² | 2.3 / km² |
| Capital | Windhoek | — |
| Region | Southern Africa | Northern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 4 | 3 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Namibia sits at about 22°S and is stretched to 1.16× 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 Namibia bigger than Western Sahara?
- Yes. Namibia is 3.1 times larger than Western Sahara. Namibia covers 825,615 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
- How many times does Western Sahara fit into Namibia?
- About 3.1 times: Namibia has 3.1× the area of Western Sahara.
- Why do Namibia and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Namibia is drawn about 1.16× 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, Namibia or Western Sahara?
- Namibia: 3,092,816 people against 612,000. Density: Namibia 3.7 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².