Australia vs South Africa
Australia is 6.3 times larger than South Africa. South Africa would fit into Australia about 6.3 times.
AustraliaSouth AfricaAustralia moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
6.3×
Australia is 6.3× the area of South Africa.
| Australia | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 7,692,024 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 27,614,411 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 3.6 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Canberra | Pretoria |
| Region | Australia and New Zealand | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 0 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Australia sits at about 26°S and is stretched to 1.23× 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 Australia bigger than South Africa?
- Yes. Australia is 6.3 times larger than South Africa. Australia covers 7,692,024 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does South Africa fit into Australia?
- About 6.3 times: Australia has 6.3× the area of South Africa.
- Why do Australia and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Australia is drawn about 1.23× 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, Australia or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 27,614,411. Density: Australia 3.6 per km², South Africa 53 per km².