I think it's nice to educate people about map projections and that the earth is not a flat map, but area hardly is a measurement that dwarfs things in any other

I think it's nice to educate people about map projections and that the earth is not a flat map, but area hardly is a measurement that dwarfs things in any other way than numbers. In economic terms it matters how many people that land can support, either trough agriculture or it's natural resources. If it's just about area, the Pacific Ocean alone would dwarf all land masses all-together. In general this approach of raising awareness to regions leaves a lot to question, especially if it's mixed with a humanitarian tone: Understanding Africa's immense size helps us appreciate how difficult it may be to solve the continent's poverty and drought problems To answer that: No, just no. As said, it might help raise initial awareness, but that's about it. Poverty is not a function of land area, just to name Bangladesh or Canada. Alternatively one might point out, that Nigeria's current population alone is already on par with that of half of the USA's at a 10th of its area (~1⅓ of Texas). Some population density maps: Africa: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v1/n1/fig_tab/nclimate1051_F1.html http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v1/n1/fig_tab/nclimat... http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/downloads/maps/nagdc/nagdc-population-landscape-climate-estimates-v3/place3-popdens-2010-africa.png http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/downloads/maps/nagdc/nagdc-... Global: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/age-of-man/map-interactive http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/age-of-man/map-int...