South Africa is 1.03× the size of Greenland Sea

South Africa (country) covers about 1,220,000 km² (471,000 mi²) and the Greenland Sea (sea) about 1,183,000 km² (457,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The Greenland Sea outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

1,220,000km²South Africa
1,183,000km²Greenland Sea

500 km

South Africa
Greenland Sea

What fits

Greenland Sea is 97% of the size of South Africa.
South Africa is larger by 36,600 km² (14,100 mi²), which is 3.1% of the area of Greenland Sea.
Measured in Belgiums: South Africa is about 39.8, Greenland Sea about 38.6.

How they differ

Their centres are about 11,800 km apart.
On a standard web map Greenland Sea looks larger than South Africa: South Africa at 29°S is drawn about 1.3× too large and Greenland Sea at 75°N about 14.5×, so the map shows Greenland Sea as 10.7× the size of South Africa, when South Africa is 1.03× the size of Greenland Sea.
Together South Africa and Greenland Sea cover 2,402,000 km², close to the size of Democratic Republic of the Congo (2,325,000 km², 3.2% smaller).
The gap between them, 36,600 km², is about the size of Netherlands (37,100 km²).
Greenland Sea's centre is 103.7° of latitude, about 11,530 km, farther north than South Africa's.
South Africa ranks 24th of 212 countries by area.
The Greenland Sea is a sea and ranks 8th of the 42 seas on sizeversus by area.
Laid out flat, South Africa stretches about 1,410 km north to south and 1,610 km east to west; the Greenland Sea about 1,990 km by 1,380 km.
Wikidata’s published figure of 1,205,000 km² agrees with our measured 1,183,000 km², to within 2%.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	South Africa	1.03×
Farther north	Greenland Sea	103.7° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Greenland Sea	14.5× against 1.3×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	South Africa	Greenland Sea
Belgium 30,700 km²	39.8×	38.6×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	5.00×	4.85×
Germany 358,000 km²	3.41×	3.31×
Japan 374,000 km²	3.27×	3.17×
France 548,000 km²	2.23×	2.16×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.39×	0.38×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.14×	0.14×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.13×	0.13×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.07×	0.07×

Each figure is the place's area divided by the yardstick's.

Side by side

	South Africa	Greenland Sea
Is a	CountryAfrica	Seasea on sizeversus
Area, measured	1,220,000 km²471,000 mi²	1,183,000 km²457,000 mi²
Area, published	1,221,000 km²Wikidata	1,205,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	24th of 212countries	8th of 42seas
Greatest depth	–	5,600 mWikidata
Latitude range	35°S to 22°S	65°N to 83°N
On the shore	–	3 on the shore

Published figures: Wikidata (CC0). A lake or a sea has no legal boundary: the measured area is that of Natural Earth’s outline, and it is shown beside the published one.

Natural Earth’s outlines of Greenland, Norway and Iceland lie within 25 km of the outline of the Greenland Sea. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.

Similar in size to South Africa

Similar in size to Greenland Sea

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Lakes and seas: Natural Earth 1:10m physical vectors (public domain), kept only where the measured area is within 10% of the published one. Countries and regions: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 and Admin 1, public domain.
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A lake or a sea has no legal boundary of its own; the outline is a cartographic one.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. The published figure comes from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11, and is shown beside the measured one.
Drawing: Each outline is projected with an equal-area projection centred on its own centroid, so areas stay true and the two can be laid over each other.
Data built: 2026-11-11

Full method