Malaysia vs South Africa
South Africa is 3.69 times larger than Malaysia. Malaysia would fit into South Africa about 3.7 times.
MalaysiaSouth AfricaMalaysia moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.27×
Malaysia is 0.27× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 3.69× the size of Malaysia.
| Malaysia | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 330,803 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 35,977,838 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 109 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Kuala Lumpur | Pretoria |
| Region | South-Eastern Asia | 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. Malaysia sits at about 4°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.
Questions about this pair
- Is Malaysia bigger than South Africa?
- No. Malaysia is 3.69 times smaller than South Africa. Malaysia covers 330,803 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Malaysia fit into South Africa?
- About 3.7 times: South Africa has 3.69× the area of Malaysia.
- Why do Malaysia and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Malaysia 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, Malaysia or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 35,977,838. Density: Malaysia 109 per km², South Africa 53 per km².