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How the crowd draws

371 drawings of its land border and 675 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Eritrea

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area122,000 km²47,000 sq mi136,000 km²53,000 sq mi11.6% bigger
Outline2,686 km1,669 mi2,456 km1,526 mi8.6% shorter
Centre38.86° E, 15.35° N38.9° E, 15.4° N39.02° E, 15.40° N39.0° E, 15.4° N19 km east12 mi east
Westernmost36.42° E, 15.13° N36.4° E, 15.1° N36.47° E, 15.13° N36.5° E, 15.1° N5 km short3 mi short
Easternmost43.12° E, 12.72° N43.1° E, 12.7° N42.93° E, 12.84° N42.9° E, 12.8° N20 km short12 mi short
Southernmost42.68° E, 12.36° N42.7° E, 12.4° N42.62° E, 12.45° N42.6° E, 12.4° N9 km short6 mi short
Northernmost38.60° E, 18.00° N38.6° E, 18.0° N38.63° E, 18.25° N38.6° E, 18.2° N27 km beyond17 mi beyond

Near the land border, 41% of the crowd’s lines run inside Eritrea. Near the coast, 39% run inland.

Borders and coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from the CIA World Factbook, are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Eritrea and Ethiopia: 840 km in the game, 1,033 km officially.

Eritrea’s coast: 1,132 km in the game, 2,234 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Ethiopia840 km in the game1,033 km officially793 km the crowd’s5.6% shorter
Sudan547 km in the game682 km officially551 km the crowd’s0.7% longer
Djibouti102 km in the game125 km officially110 km the crowd’s7.8% longer
The coast1,132 km in the game2,234 km officially909 km the crowd’s19.7% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Eritrea: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Eritrea or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 1,046 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 1,046.

2 small pieces of Eritrea, 775 km² in all, keep their real shape, shown flat: islands no round asks players to draw, or too small to measure. They count in no figure.

Draw Eritrea yourself and add your line to the next update.