The largest country meets a high-latitude projection
Russia spans an enormous east–west distance and is the largest country in EqualAtlas's launch dataset by mapped area. Much of that footprint sits well north of the equator, precisely where a Mercator map expands scale.
The result combines two true observations—a genuinely vast country and a strong projection enlargement—into a visual impression that exaggerates its share of the world's land.
Why width is not the same as area
A map reader may compare the horizontal span of Russia with North America or Africa. Longitude lines converge toward the poles on a globe, however, while Mercator draws them parallel. A wide high-latitude span therefore cannot be read as though it covered the same area as an equally wide span near the equator.
Russia compared with the United States
Using EqualAtlas's consistent Natural Earth geometry, Russia's mapped footprint is about 1.8 times that of the United States. The exact result depends on boundary and water definitions, but it is far more informative than comparing their apparent rectangles on a Mercator map.
What Equal Earth reveals
On Equal Earth, Russia remains unmistakably large while its area is kept proportional to land elsewhere. That balance makes the projection useful for global thematic maps and size comparisons where the reader should not confuse latitude with magnitude.
Explore the evidence
Sources and further reading
Continue with the Equal Earth projection guide, try the interactive map, or review our methodology.