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Equatorial Guinea vs South Africa

South Africa is 43.5 times larger than Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea would fit into South Africa about 44 times.

Equatorial GuineaSouth AfricaEquatorial Guinea moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.02×
Equatorial Guinea is 0.02× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 43.5× the size of Equatorial Guinea.
Equatorial GuineaSouth Africa
Area28,051 km²1,221,037 km²
Population1,938,43164,747,319
Density69 / km²53 / km²
CapitalMalaboPretoria
RegionMiddle AfricaSouthern Africa
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours26

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Equatorial Guinea sits at about 2°N and is stretched to 1.0× 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.

Open in the atlasLay South Africa over Equatorial Guinea

Questions about this pair

Is Equatorial Guinea bigger than South Africa?
No. Equatorial Guinea is 43.5 times smaller than South Africa. Equatorial Guinea covers 28,051 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
How many times does Equatorial Guinea fit into South Africa?
About 44 times: South Africa has 43.5× the area of Equatorial Guinea.
Why do Equatorial Guinea and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Equatorial Guinea is drawn about 1.0× 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, Equatorial Guinea or South Africa?
South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 1,938,431. Density: Equatorial Guinea 69 per km², South Africa 53 per km².
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