Low technology question

We've all noticed that the Isle of Man has become more crowded over the years. Could I  have discovered one of the reasons? Is the island shrinking?

I mentioned that I went on Manx Telecom's 4G trial last week. You can see their promo film on YouTube now:



At the conclusion of the trip you are asked to partake in a little game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire to test that you have been listening to the download speeds etc. One of the questions is very low tech however. What is the size of the Isle of Man? I immediately challenged the four answers. "None of them are right" I said.

Funnily enough it was a phone number that had sat in my head since I was a kid that lead me to challenge the answer. Our old telephone number in Kirk Michael (it was even my grandparent's number) was 227 and the Isle of Man is 227 square miles.

If you type "Isle of Man 227 sq miles" you get pages and pages of results of other pages that show that the Isle of Man is indeed this size, including the Story of Man and a police site.

Not so says Wikipedia. Not so says Who Wants to be a Millionaire. 221 is the answer they were looking for.

I know from my geography studies at school (and by opening my eyes at Kirk Michael and wondering how long it will be before some of the new houses are in the sea) that we have lost some land to coastal erosion. But 3% of the Manx land?

Which friend did Wikipedia call and who has the right answer?

If you want a quick answer follow this link!

2. Key Economic Data and Standards - Isle of Man Government Isle of ...

   www.gov.im/iomfinance/about/keyeconomicdata.xml
   

    - Block all www.gov.im results

   Resident Population: 80058 (Isle of Man Census Report 2006); Land Area: 572 sq. km/ 227 square miles; Population Density: 140 people per sq. kilometre or ...