South Africa

Facts

What the numbers say about South Africa

• Russia, the largest place listed, is 13.9× the size of South Africa.
• At 51 people per km², South Africa is the 117th most densely populated of the 185 places over 1,000 km²; the median is 72 per km².
• On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 29°S is drawn about 1.3× too large in area, so South Africa looks bigger there than it is.
• Laid out flat, South Africa's main territory stretches about 1,410 km north to south and 1,610 km east to west.
• Wikidata's official figure of 1,221,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 1,220,000 km², to within 2%.

How South Africa measures up

South Africa holds 4.1% of the land area and 4.4% of the people of the 54 countries listed for Africa. In Southern Africa it is the 1st largest of 5.

Where South Africa sits

• South Africa's centre lies at 29.0°S, 25.2°E, in the southern and eastern hemispheres, about 3,220 km from the equator.
• Its main territory spans 35°S to 22°S, about 1,410 km from its southern edge to its northern.

If South Africa had other densities

• At Bangladesh's density of 1,252 people per km², South Africa would have 1.53 billion people. It has 62.0 million.
• At Canada's density of 3.7 people per km², South Africa would have 4.5 million people. It has 62.0 million.
• At the median density of the places listed, 72 per km², it would have 88.3 million.

Compare South Africa

• Peru vs South Africa
• Chad vs South Africa
• Mali vs South Africa
• Angola vs South Africa
• South Africa vs Niger
• Indonesia vs South Africa
• Mexico vs South Africa
• South Africa vs France
• South Africa vs Colombia
• South Africa vs Ethiopia
• South Africa vs Karnataka
• South Africa vs Hubei