Mauritania vs South Africa
South Africa is 18% larger than Mauritania.
MauritaniaSouth AfricaMauritania moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.84×
Mauritania is 0.84× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 1.18× the size of Mauritania.
| Mauritania | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 1,030,700 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 5,315,065 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 5.2 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Nouakchott | Pretoria |
| Region | Western Africa | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 4 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Mauritania sits at about 20°N and is stretched to 1.14× 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 Mauritania bigger than South Africa?
- No. Mauritania is 16% smaller than South Africa. Mauritania covers 1,030,700 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Mauritania fit into South Africa?
- About 1.2 times: South Africa has 1.18× the area of Mauritania.
- Why do Mauritania and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Mauritania is drawn about 1.14× 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, Mauritania or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 5,315,065. Density: Mauritania 5.2 per km², South Africa 53 per km².