An example of how Rhye's huge Earth map could be used:
around 40 civs, looks pretty balanced (unrealistic "Neutral" countries needed only in Africa and South America
Every bigger civ has at least 2 decent cities (except Israel, which can have either 1 or 2 depending on whether Syria is extended one tile south or not)
(A B C are the smaller nations, which need to be solved some way)
Afghanistan is swallowed by Iran and Pakistan
Baltic states are stuck between St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad, as they'd be too small to be a decent "real" civ
Former Yugoslavia is divided between Romania, Greece and Italy (this could use some more work)
Poles can decide whether they want to be a part of Germany or Ukraine (sorry poles, but Poland would be too small, like the Baltic states)
Israel enlarged to make them a bit more competitive against the surrounding civs, no room for Palestine but the "close borders" penalty makes most surrounding civs realistically unfriendly to them
Laos, Thailand and Cambodia gobbled by Myanmar and Vietnam