Lesotho vs South Africa
South Africa is 40.2 times larger than Lesotho. Lesotho would fit into South Africa about 40 times.
LesothoSouth AfricaLesotho moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.02×
Lesotho is 0.02× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 40.2× the size of Lesotho.
| Lesotho | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 30,355 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 2,363,325 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 78 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Maseru | Pretoria |
| Region | Southern Africa | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Landlocked | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 1 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Lesotho sits at about 30°S and is stretched to 1.32× 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 Lesotho bigger than South Africa?
- No. Lesotho is 40.2 times smaller than South Africa. Lesotho covers 30,355 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Lesotho fit into South Africa?
- About 40 times: South Africa has 40.2× the area of Lesotho.
- Why do Lesotho and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Lesotho is drawn about 1.32× 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, Lesotho or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 2,363,325. Density: Lesotho 78 per km², South Africa 53 per km².