Costa Rica vs South Africa
South Africa is 23.9 times larger than Costa Rica. Costa Rica would fit into South Africa about 24 times.
Costa RicaSouth AfricaCosta Rica moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.04×
Costa Rica is 0.04× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 23.9× the size of Costa Rica.
| Costa Rica | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 51,180 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 5,152,950 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 101 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | San Jose | Pretoria |
| Region | Central America | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 2 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Costa Rica sits at about 10°N and is stretched to 1.03× 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 Costa Rica bigger than South Africa?
- No. Costa Rica is 23.9 times smaller than South Africa. Costa Rica covers 51,180 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Costa Rica fit into South Africa?
- About 24 times: South Africa has 23.9× the area of Costa Rica.
- Why do Costa Rica and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Costa Rica is drawn about 1.03× 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, Costa Rica or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 5,152,950. Density: Costa Rica 101 per km², South Africa 53 per km².