Africa is vast.

So vast that its full scale can be hard to grasp by looking at most world maps.

The graphic below, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, solves this by combining individual countries inside the continent’s area, showing that Africa’s landmass is on par with the (contiguous) U.S., China, India, and much of Western Europe combined.

Data for this visualization comes from UN Statistics Division and total area (land + inland waters) was used for this comparison.

At 11.7 million mi² (30.4 million km²), Africa is the world’s second-largest continent after Asia.

Put another way, it easily contains the contiguous U.S. (3.1M mi² / 8.1M km²) and China (3.7M mi² / 9.6M km² ) with room to spare.

Country/RegionTotal Area (mi²)Readable LabelTotal Area (km²)Readable Label???????? Contiguous U.S.3,119,8853.1M miles²8,080,4648.1M km²???????? China3,705,4073.7M miles²9,596,9619.6M km²???????? India1,269,2191.3M miles²3,287,2633.3M km²???????? Saudi Arabia830,000830K miles²2,149,6902.1M km²???????? Iran636,372636K miles²1,648,1951.6M km²???????? Turkey302,455302K miles²783,356783K km²???????? France213,011213K miles²551,695552K km²???????? Yemen203,850204K miles²527,968528K km²???????? Spain195,364195K miles²505,990506K km²???????? Iraq169,235169K miles²438,317438K km²???????? Norway148,729149K miles²385,207385K km²???????? Japan145,937146K miles²377,975378K km²???????? Germany137,988138K miles²357,386357K km²???????? Italy116,348116K miles²301,340301K km²???????? UK93,62894K miles²242,495242K km²???????? Syria71,49871K miles²185,180185K km²???????? Greece50,94951K miles²131,957132K km²???????? North Korea46,54147K miles²120,540121K km²???????? South Korea38,75039K miles²100,363100K km²???????? Portugal35,60336K miles²92,21292K km²???????? Jordan34,49534K miles²89,34289K km²???????? UAE32,27832K miles²83,60084K km²???????? Ireland27,13327K miles²70,27370K km²???????? Netherlands16,16416K miles²41,86542K km²???????? Switzerland15,94216K miles²41,29041K km²???????? Taiwan13,97614K miles²36,19736K km²???????? Belgium11,84912K miles²30,68931K km²???????? Israel8,5229K miles²2207222K km²???????? Kuwait6,8807K miles²1781818K km²???????? Qatar4,4734K miles²1158612K km²???? 30 Countries11,702,48111.7M miles²3030928630.3M km²???? Africa11,730,00011.7M miles²3037000030.4M km²

Add India’s 1.3M mi² (3.3M km²) and we’re still not close to filling the continent’s footprint.

In fact, it takes a total of 30 countries together—shown in the graphic above —to equal Africa’s total area, underscoring how massive the continent is in absolute terms.

Of course, country selection can change these numbers. If prioritizing Central and South American countries instead (like Mexico and Argentina,) the comparison could reduce to 18 entities.

Including Alaska and Hawaii would increase America’s footprint by 700,000 mi² (1.8M km²).

Many of us grew up looking at wall maps that use the Mercator projection.

This 16th-century design keeps straight lines for navigation but dramatically enlarges regions near the poles and compresses those near the equator.

Africa, which straddles the equator, is one of the biggest victims of this distortion.

That discrepancy fuels common misconceptions about just how expansive Africa really is.

The African Union has asked international organizations to stop using the Mercator projection.

They say this size misrepresentation undermines the perceived global influence and importance of Africa and perpetuates stereotypes.

For example, the frequent use of the Mercator map in educational settings and media can lead many to unconsciously imagine Europe and North America as disproportionately significant.

Meanwhile Africa appears less substantial and “marginal.”

The map above also drives home another point. When discussing global development, trade, or climate impacts, treating Africa as a single bloc overlooks the continent’s enormous spatial and cultural complexity.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Germany’s Economy Compared to 22 European Countries on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.