Western Sahara covers 266,000 km² on the new Equal Earth world map, 0.2% of all land on Earth. It ranks 78th of 237 countries worldwide and 31st in Africa. At 24° latitude the old Mercator map inflates area by about 1.2×, drawing it closer to 319,785 km², a difference of roughly 20%.
For scale, Western Sahara is roughly the same size as New Zealand (268,838 km²).
You could fit 3 of Azerbaijan inside Western Sahara.
Western Sahara: key figures
| True area | 266,000 km² |
| World rank | 78th |
| Share of world land | 0.2% |
| Rank in Africa | 31st / 58 |
| Old-map (Mercator) inflation | 1.2× |
| Apparent size on Mercator | 319,785 km² |
Largest countries in Africa (true area)
| Africa | |
|---|
| Algeria | 2,381,741 km² |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2,344,858 km² |
| Sudan | 1,878,000 km² |
| Libya | 1,759,540 km² |
| Chad | 1,284,000 km² |
| Niger | 1,267,000 km² |