The Pacific versus all land combined
On a Mercator map, the ocean is easy to treat as background. In reality, the Pacific alone is larger than all continents and islands combined.
Labels and borders draw the eye to land, while oceans look like empty spaces between continents. It is easy to assume that any one ocean must be smaller than all land combined.
The Pacific Ocean covers about 165.25M km². Earth's entire land surface is about 148.94M km². The Pacific is therefore larger by more than 16M km².
Earth's surface is about 510M km². Land accounts for less than 30 percent, while oceans cover more than 70 percent. The Pacific is the largest ocean, reaching from the Arctic to Antarctica and from Asia to the Americas.
The Mercator projection greatly enlarges high-latitude regions. A typical world map also splits the Pacific at its edges, making the ocean's full extent difficult to take in at a glance.
First set the slider to where you think the truth is: how many times bigger (or smaller) the Pacific is than all land combined. Only then reveal the answer.
How many times bigger is the Pacific than all of Earth's land combined?
Set the slider to the value you consider most likely.
- The Pacific alone exceeds the area of all the planet's land.
- Mercator enlarges regions near the poles, while the usual map layout splits the Pacific between two edges.
- Borders and labels direct attention to land even though water covers most of the globe.
Pacific questions and answers
Yes. The Pacific Ocean is about 165.25M km², while Earth's total land area is about 148.94M km². The gap exceeds 16M km² and is close to the area of Russia.
About 32 percent of the planet's total surface (510M km²), roughly a third of the globe. That is more than all the continents put together.
A standard Mercator map stretches areas near the poles and places the Pacific on two opposite edges, so the eye never sees it whole or in true proportion to the land.