Both maps below show Kuwait highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates Kuwait about 1.3× at 29°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 17,818 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.3× inflation is why Kuwait dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover Kuwait on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
Kuwait: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| Kuwait | 17,818 km² | 23,445 km² | 1.3× |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 km² | 25,576,494 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | n/a | n/a |
Old maps drew Kuwait at about 23,445 km². The truth is 17,818 km², a difference of 32% that school atlases carried for centuries.