Mountainous regions also have a lot more land than they appear to cover in a map.

When we look at world maps, Mexico appears to be a small country. How do they pack all of those people in?

Well, the maps distort the size of areas based on their distance from the equator. This link is to a site that Can help us to understand the true relative sizes of countries.

https://www.thetruesize.com

In the top left corner, enter Mexico. Mexico will become highlighted. Then you can move it around the map and it appears to change size as you compare it to other map entities. For a little fun, move it up to Alaska.

Of course, you can use it for other countries, but this board is about Mexico.