Afghanistan vs South Africa
South Africa is 87% larger than Afghanistan. Afghanistan would fit into South Africa about 1.9 times.
AfghanistanSouth AfricaAfghanistan moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.53×
Afghanistan is 0.53× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 1.87× the size of Afghanistan.
| Afghanistan | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 652,230 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 43,844,111 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 67 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Kabul | Pretoria |
| Region | Southern Asia | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Landlocked | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 6 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Afghanistan sits at about 34°N and is stretched to 1.45× its true area; South Africa at 29° S is stretched to 1.31×. Here the two are distorted about the same amount, so Mercator gets this pair roughly right. The figure above uses the Equal Earth projection, where every square kilometre is drawn the same size.
Questions about this pair
- Is Afghanistan bigger than South Africa?
- No. Afghanistan is 47% smaller than South Africa. Afghanistan covers 652,230 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Afghanistan fit into South Africa?
- About 1.9 times: South Africa has 1.87× the area of Afghanistan.
- Why do Afghanistan and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Afghanistan is drawn about 1.45× its true area there and South Africa about 1.31×. For this pair the distortion is similar, so Mercator gets the comparison roughly right. Kartavera uses Equal Earth, where every square kilometre is drawn the same size.
- Which has more people, Afghanistan or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 43,844,111. Density: Afghanistan 67 per km², South Africa 53 per km².