Malawi vs South Africa
South Africa is 10.3 times larger than Malawi. Malawi would fit into South Africa about 10 times.
MalawiSouth AfricaMalawi moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.1×
Malawi is 0.1× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 10.3× the size of Malawi.
| Malawi | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 118,484 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 22,216,120 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 188 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Lilongwe | Pretoria |
| Region | Eastern Africa | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Landlocked | 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. Malawi sits at about 13°S and is stretched to 1.06× 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 Malawi bigger than South Africa?
- No. Malawi is 10.3 times smaller than South Africa. Malawi covers 118,484 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Malawi fit into South Africa?
- About 10 times: South Africa has 10.3× the area of Malawi.
- Why do Malawi and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Malawi is drawn about 1.06× 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, Malawi or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 22,216,120. Density: Malawi 188 per km², South Africa 53 per km².