Papua New Guinea vs Western Sahara
Papua New Guinea is 74% larger than Western Sahara. Western Sahara would fit into Papua New Guinea about 1.7 times.
Papua New GuineaWestern SaharaPapua New Guinea moved onto Western Sahara · Equal-area projection
1.74×
Papua New Guinea is 1.74× the area of Western Sahara.
| Papua New Guinea | Western Sahara | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 462,840 km² | 266,000 km² |
| Population | 10,762,817 | 612,000 |
| Density | 23 / km² | 2.3 / km² |
| Capital | Port Moresby | — |
| Region | Melanesia | Northern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 1 | 3 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Papua New Guinea sits at about 6°S 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 Papua New Guinea bigger than Western Sahara?
- Yes. Papua New Guinea is 74% larger than Western Sahara. Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km² and Western Sahara covers 266,000 km².
- How many times does Western Sahara fit into Papua New Guinea?
- About 1.7 times: Papua New Guinea has 1.74× the area of Western Sahara.
- Why do Papua New Guinea and Western Sahara look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Papua New Guinea 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, Papua New Guinea or Western Sahara?
- Papua New Guinea: 10,762,817 people against 612,000. Density: Papua New Guinea 23 per km², Western Sahara 2.3 per km².