Eritrea vs South Africa
South Africa is 10.4 times larger than Eritrea. Eritrea would fit into South Africa about 10 times.
EritreaSouth AfricaEritrea moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.1×
Eritrea is 0.1× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 10.4× the size of Eritrea.
| Eritrea | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 117,600 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 3,607,003 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 31 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Asmara | Pretoria |
| Region | Eastern Africa | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 3 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Eritrea sits at about 15°N and is stretched to 1.08× 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 Eritrea bigger than South Africa?
- No. Eritrea is 10.4 times smaller than South Africa. Eritrea covers 117,600 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Eritrea fit into South Africa?
- About 10 times: South Africa has 10.4× the area of Eritrea.
- Why do Eritrea and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Eritrea is drawn about 1.08× 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, Eritrea or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 3,607,003. Density: Eritrea 31 per km², South Africa 53 per km².