How big is South Africa compared with the United States?
The United States is about 7.7 times as big as South Africa: 9 372 610 km² against 1 221 037 km².
How many times does it fit?
South Africa would fit into the United States about 7 times. The number counts area, not shape: on a real map the smaller one would have to be cut up to fill the bigger one exactly.
Which has more people?
South Africa has 57.8 million people, the United States has 326.7 million people. South Africa is more crowded: about 47 people share each square kilometre, against 35 in the United States.
The two side by side
South Africa
- Capital
- Pretoria
- Continent
- Africa
- Area
- 1 221 037 km²
- People
- 57.8 million
United States
- Capital
- Washington D.C.
- Continent
- Americas
- Area
- 9 372 610 km²
- People
- 326.7 million
Why do maps get sizes wrong?
Most world maps on walls and in apps use the Mercator projection. It keeps shapes and directions right, which is why sailors loved it, but it stretches everything the further it is from the equator. Greenland looks as big as Africa on such a map, even though Africa is about fourteen times bigger.
The drawing on this page uses an equal-area projection centred on each place, so the two shapes can be compared fairly.
How big is a square kilometre?
A square kilometre (km²) is a square that measures one kilometre on each side. About 140 football pitches fit into it. So a country of 40 000 km² is as big as 40 000 such squares put together – that is more than five million football pitches.
Questions children ask
How big is South Africa compared with the United States?
The United States is about 7.7 times as big as South Africa: 9 372 610 km² against 1 221 037 km².
How many times does South Africa fit into the United States?
South Africa would fit into the United States about 7 times.
Where do more people live, in South Africa or in the United States?
South Africa has 57.8 million people, the United States has 326.7 million people.
Why does the size look different on a normal world map?
Most world maps on walls and in apps use the Mercator projection. It keeps shapes and directions right, which is why sailors loved it, but it stretches everything the further it is from the equator. Greenland looks as big as Africa on such a map, even though Africa is about fourteen times bigger.
Where these numbers come from
Areas: world-countries (ISO 3166, Natural Earth); continents rounded to textbook values, Europe to the Urals. Population: World Bank, 2018. Outlines: Natural Earth.
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