Japan vs South Africa
South Africa is 3.23 times larger than Japan. Japan would fit into South Africa about 3.2 times.
JapanSouth AfricaJapan moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.31×
Japan is 0.31× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 3.23× the size of Japan.
| Japan | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 377,972 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 123,366,734 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 326 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Tokyo | Pretoria |
| Region | Eastern Asia | 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. Japan sits at about 37°N and is stretched to 1.59× 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 Japan bigger than South Africa?
- No. Japan is 3.23 times smaller than South Africa. Japan covers 377,972 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Japan fit into South Africa?
- About 3.2 times: South Africa has 3.23× the area of Japan.
- Why do Japan and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Japan is drawn about 1.59× 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, Japan or South Africa?
- Japan: 123,366,734 people against 64,747,319. Density: Japan 326 per km², South Africa 53 per km².