Egypt vs South Africa
South Africa is 21% larger than Egypt.
EgyptSouth AfricaEgypt moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.83×
Egypt is 0.83× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 1.21× the size of Egypt.
| Egypt | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 1,010,408 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 118,365,995 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 117 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Cairo | Pretoria |
| Region | Northern Africa | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 4 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Egypt sits at about 26°N and is stretched to 1.25× 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 Egypt bigger than South Africa?
- No. Egypt is 17% smaller than South Africa. Egypt covers 1,010,408 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Egypt fit into South Africa?
- About 1.2 times: South Africa has 1.21× the area of Egypt.
- Why do Egypt and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Egypt is drawn about 1.25× 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, Egypt or South Africa?
- Egypt: 118,365,995 people against 64,747,319. Density: Egypt 117 per km², South Africa 53 per km².