Africa
Africa
Africa covers about 29,888,000 km² (11,540,000 mi²), the 1st largest of the 246 places listed here. That is close to Russia, at about 16,980,000 km².
- 29,888,000km²Area, main territory
- 1.55 billionPopulation
- 975In Belgiums
2,000 km
- Africa
Facts
| Area, main territory | 29,888,000 km²11,540,000 mi² |
|---|---|
| Official area | 29,648,000 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure |
| In Belgiums | 975 |
| Population | 1.55 billionWikidata, 2025 |
| Density | 52 people per km² |
| Latitude range | 35°S to 37°N |
| In other languages | África Español · Afrika Deutsch · Afrique Français · África Português · アフリカ 日本語 · 非洲 中文 · 아프리카 한국어 |
| Continent | Africa |
What the numbers say about Africa
- Africa is 1.76× the size of Russia, the largest country.
- By area, the United States, China, India, Mexico, Peru, France, Spain, Japan, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom all fit inside Africa: together 27,544,000 km² against 29,888,000 km², with 2,344,000 km² to spare. Real outlines do not pack perfectly, but the totals do.
- About 1.55 billion people live in Africa (Wikidata, 2025), 52 per km²; the median country has 72.
- Africa's centre lies at 7°N, so a standard web map (Web Mercator) draws its middle at close to true size (about 1.0×) while it inflates places nearer the poles, which is why Africa looks smaller next to them than it is.
- Laid out flat, Africa stretches about 7,900 km north to south and 8,100 km east to west.
- Wikidata's official figure of 29,648,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 29,889,000 km², to within 2%.
How Africa measures up
| Where it ranks | Figure | Position |
|---|
| Compared with | Its area | Africa is |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 30,700 km² | 975× its size |
| United Kingdom | 244,000 km² | 123× its size |
| Germany | 358,000 km² | 83.6× its size |
| Japan | 374,000 km² | 80.0× its size |
| France | 548,000 km² | 54.6× its size |
| India | 3,151,000 km² | 9.49× its size |
| Brazil | 8,473,000 km² | 3.53× its size |
| United States | 9,447,000 km² | 3.16× its size |
| Russia | 16,980,000 km² | 1.76× its size |
If Africa had other densities
- At Bangladesh's density of 1,252 people per km², Africa would have 37.43 billion people. It has 1.55 billion.
- At Canada's density of 3.7 people per km², Africa would have 111.2 million people. It has 1.55 billion.
- At the median density of the places listed, 72 per km², it would have 2.16 billion.
Compare Africa
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Sources and method
- Outline
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 - Countries, public domain
- Boundary
- De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth.
- Area
- Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline, shown rounded
- Official figures
- Area, population and capital from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11
- Population
- Wikidata, 2025; covers the whole country, overseas territory included
- Data built
- 2026-11-11