Nigeria vs France: size comparison
Nigeria is 1.7 times the size of France.
- Nigeria 923,770 km²
- France 551,700 km²
Drag a country, see its true size
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Drag the coloured shape anywhere on the map. It keeps its real size on the globe, so the map redraws it bigger near the poles and smaller near the equator.
Why they look different on a map
Nigeria is centred around 10°N and France around 47°N. At those latitudes the Mercator projection used by most world maps draws Nigeria 1.03 times and France 2.1 times larger than they would appear at the equator.
So on a typical world map, France looks 1.2 times the size of Nigeria. In reality Nigeria is 1.7 times the size of France. The map gets it backwards: the country that looks bigger is actually the smaller one.
| Country | True area | Centred around | Mercator enlargement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 923,770 km² | 10°N | ×1.03 |
| France | 551,700 km² | 47°N | ×2.1 |
The stretch is 1 divided by the cosine of the latitude, squared. At 60° north a country is drawn four times larger than the same country would be at the equator.
More size comparisons
- United Kingdom vs France
- France vs Spain
- Germany vs France
- Ukraine vs France
- Turkey vs France
- Egypt vs France
- South Africa vs France
- Kenya vs France
- Thailand vs France
- Greenland vs DR Congo
- Greenland vs Australia
- Greenland vs United States
- Greenland vs Brazil
- Greenland vs India
- Greenland vs Mexico
- Greenland vs Saudi Arabia
- Greenland vs Algeria
- Russia vs Canada
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Nigeria vs France: questions
Which is bigger, Nigeria or France?
Nigeria is 1.7 times the size of France. Nigeria covers 923,770 km² and France covers 551,700 km².
Why do Nigeria and France look a different size on world maps?
Nigeria is centred around 10°N and France around 47°N. At those latitudes the Mercator projection used by most world maps draws Nigeria 1.03 times and France 2.1 times larger than they would appear at the equator. So on a typical world map, France looks 1.2 times the size of Nigeria.
How many times does France fit into Nigeria?
By area, France would fit into Nigeria about 1.7 times.