Europe is slightly larger: 10,180,000 km² (editorial estimate) versus 9,833,517 km² for the United States, a difference of about 4%.
Both areas at the same scale: United States and Europe. Drag the outlines, separate them and see what the Mercator map hides.
Drag the outlines to overlap them, or place them side by side.
The whole USA: 50 states and Washington, DC, including Alaska and Hawaii. This is not the Lower 48.
Area source: UN Demographic Yearbook 2024, Table 3
Geographic Europe, including European Russia and islands. This is not the European Union. The area is approximate.
True area tells a different story than the Mercator map.
The Mercator projection enlarges areas more and more the farther they lie from the equator. The centers of the two areas lie about 45° (United States) and 55° (Europe) from the equator. An estimate based on each center’s latitude gives an area ratio of 1.6 : 1, compared with the real ratio of 1.04 : 1. This is not a measurement of the entire outlines on a Mercator map.
Tip: You can also compare these items dynamically by clicking the link below and dragging them directly across the global interactive map.
At least one value represents a continent and comes from an older editorial dataset. Treat the result as an approximation. The overlay uses an equal-area projection. Coastal outlines are simplified and do not include all waters counted in the statistics. Their area ratio can therefore differ from the ratio of official total areas. Geometry: Natural Earth, public domain. Read the methodology ↗
The Mercator projection preserves angles, which makes it useful for navigation, but it enlarges areas more and more the farther they lie from the equator. At 60° latitude, areas already appear four times larger than at the equator. A same-scale comparison like the one on this page greatly reduces that distortion.
The whole USA: 50 states and Washington, DC, including Alaska and Hawaii. This is not the Lower 48.
Geographic Europe, including European Russia and islands. This is not the European Union. The area is approximate.
