And this one really is surprising. From The Economist: The true true size of Africa
LAST month Kai Krause, a computer-graphics guru, caused a stir with a map entitled “The True Size of Africa”, which showed the outlines of other countries crammed into the outline of the African continent. His aim was to make “a small contribution in the fight against rampant Immappancy”—in particular, the fact that most people do not realise how much the ubiquitous Mercator projection distorts the relative sizes of countries.
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A further word:
Africa’s population is relatively sparse. Population estimates were 1.1 billion (15% of world) at 2013. The estimated population of the geographies superimposed on the Africa continent in 2013 were nearly 4 billion (55% of world population).
Standard projection really catches people out on this one. There was a push a while ago to move toward an equal area projection that would particularly show the true size of Africa. But I think Google has cemented mercator projection in the public mind as the way the earth looks flattened out.