Where do RealSize.World numbers come from?
This page explains the sources, definitions, limitations, and update process for data used in profiles, comparisons, and quizzes.
Three different concepts, three separate metrics
Population
Total population for the year displayed next to the value. It is a statistical estimate, not a real-time counter.
World Bank · SP.POP.TOTL ↗Total surface area
Territorial surface area published by the UN Statistics Division. The table assigns no separate reference year to this column, so we show the 2024 publication edition rather than an invented measurement year.
UN Demographic Yearbook 2024 · Table 3 ↗Land area
An FAO indicator distributed by the World Bank. It is not interchangeable with total surface area and can differ substantially for special cases such as Greenland.
World Bank / FAO · AG.LND.TOTL.K2 ↗Outlines and boundaries
Outlines come from Natural Earth through world-atlas. The app uses 1:50m and 1:110m scales, so geometry is simplified for visualization and is not suitable for geodetic measurement. Natural Earth displays de facto boundaries by default. Names and boundaries do not express a RealSize.World position on territorial disputes.
Natural Earth · Admin 0 Countries ↗How calculations and comparisons work
- Size comparisons use total surface area, not area calculated from simplified SVG geometry.
- Population density is calculated as population divided by land area when both metrics are available.
- Population and area reference periods may differ; they are displayed separately.
- A missing observation is not replaced with zero or an average.
Current snapshot coverage
Show codes without observations
Population: ATA, ATF, ESH, FLK, TWN, VAT
Total surface area: ATA, ATF, TWN
Land area: ATA, ATF, ESH, FLK, TWN, VAT
Updates and quality control
Data is fetched by a controlled importer during editorial updates, stored in the repository, and validated before publication. The site does not fetch numbers live on every visit. This makes builds reproducible and prevents an external API outage from changing page content.
The importer stops on an invalid source response. Validation checks codes, values, sources, and the relationship between total and land area. Exceptional cases are flagged for a manual decision.