How big is that compared to a country?
Map projections lie about area badly. These are the real figures, drawn as squares of equal-area scale.
1.36 × Singapore
100,000 ha is bigger than 2 of the 8 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monaco | 202 ha | 495× | |
| Singapore | 73,400 ha | 1.36× | |
| Luxembourg | 258,600 ha | 0.387× | |
| Wales | 2,077,900 ha | 1/20.8 | |
| Belgium | 3,052,800 ha | 1/30.5 | |
| France | 55,169,500 ha | 1/552 | |
| Texas | 69,566,200 ha | 1/696 | |
| Russia | 1,709,824,600 ha | 1/17,098 |
Worth knowing
- Wales, at 20 779 km², is the British press unit for "a large area". Belgium serves the same purpose in continental Europe.
- On the Mercator projection Greenland looks bigger than Africa. Africa is fourteen times larger.
Frequently asked
Why is Wales used as a unit of area?
Because it is a familiar, roughly 20 000 km² block that British readers can picture. There is no formal basis; it just stuck.
Why do maps distort country sizes?
Because you cannot flatten a sphere without stretching something. Mercator preserves angles, which made it good for navigation and terrible for area — it inflates everything near the poles.