Africa on the Ground

Tool

True size

Lay other countries over Africa and see how big it really is.

Drag a country onto Africa

The world map most of us grew up with makes land look bigger the farther it lies from the equator[1]. This map uses another projection, Equal Earth, made to keep areas in proportion[2]. Move a country here and its area stays true: only the shape bends a little, as on any flat map.

ZimbabweZambiaUgandaTunisiaTogoTanzaniaeSwatiniS. SudanSudanSouth AfricaSomaliaSomalilandSierra LeoneSenegalSão Tomé and PrincipeRwandaNigeriaNigerNamibiaMozambiqueMoroccoW. SaharaMauritaniaMaliMalawiMadagascarLibyaLiberiaLesothoKenyaGuinea-BissauGuineaGhanaGambiaGabonEthiopiaEritreaEq. GuineaEgyptDjiboutiCôte d'IvoireDem. Rep. CongoCongoComorosChadCentral African Rep.Cabo VerdeCameroonBurundiBurkina FasoBotswanaBeninAngolaAlgeria

Moving the shapes needs JavaScript. The table below gives every area.

Up to 5 at a time. Drag a shape, or focus it and use the arrow keys (Shift for bigger steps).

    Africa covers about 30.0 million km² on this page, counting every territory Natural Earth draws on the continent[3]. Areas are calculated here from simplified outlines, so they are close to official figures but not the same.

    The numbers

    ShapeAreaTimes in Africa
    Russia16.8 million km²1.8
    Canada9.8 million km²3.1
    China9.4 million km²3.2
    Brazil8.5 million km²3.5
    United States (48 states)7.9 million km²3.8
    Australia7.7 million km²3.9
    European Union (27)4.1 million km²7.4
    India3.2 million km²9.5
    Greenland2.1 million km²14

    Calculated here from the Natural Earth outlines[3], using the Equal Earth projection[2]. Added up, the United States, China, India, European Union cover 82% of Africa's area. That is a sum of areas, not a claim that the shapes fit without gaps.

    What this does not show
    • The outlines are simplified and show de facto boundaries, so the areas are approximate and the map is illustrative, not for navigation.
    • A shape moved here is rotated on the globe and redrawn, so near the edges of the map it can look a little different from the way it appears on a familiar map.
    • Only nine shapes are offered. The 48 contiguous United States leave out Alaska and Hawaii, and the European Union shape is the 27 current member states, checked against the EU's official list[4] (membership can change; the check is dated in the source note).
    • Size is the only thing compared. It says nothing about population, wealth or importance.

    Sources

    1. Encyclopedia · to verify[1] Mercator projection. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org retrieved 7 Oct 2026
      Used for the size comparisons, the history of the criticism and the African Union campaign. Check the figures against an atlas or a cartography text.
    2. Academic[2] Bojan Šavrič, Tom Patterson and Bernhard Jenny, The Equal Earth map projection. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 33(3), 454-465, 7 Aug 2018. doi.org retrieved 7 Oct 2026
      Describes the equal-area projection used on the True size page. Title, authors and journal were checked in the Crossref register; the full paper was not read here. That the projection preserves area was also checked numerically, by integrating the area inside its outline.
    3. Primary source[3] Natural Earth: admin 0 countries, 1:50m and 1:10m. Natural Earth. www.naturalearthdata.com retrieved 6 Oct 2026
      Public domain outlines. They show de facto boundaries and draw Somaliland and Western Sahara as separate areas.
    4. Institutional[4] EU countries. European Union (official portal). european-union.europa.eu retrieved 7 Oct 2026
      Official list of the 27 member states, read on 2026-10-07. The 27 names match the list used on the True size page.