Mexico vs South Africa
Mexico is 62% larger than South Africa. South Africa would fit into Mexico about 1.6 times.
MexicoSouth AfricaMexico moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
1.62×
Mexico is 1.62× the area of South Africa.
| Mexico | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 1,972,550 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 131,946,900 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 67 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Mexico City | Pretoria |
| Region | Central America | 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. Mexico sits at about 24°N and is stretched to 1.2× 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 Mexico bigger than South Africa?
- Yes. Mexico is 62% larger than South Africa. Mexico covers 1,972,550 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does South Africa fit into Mexico?
- About 1.6 times: Mexico has 1.62× the area of South Africa.
- Why do Mexico and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Mexico is drawn about 1.2× 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, Mexico or South Africa?
- Mexico: 131,946,900 people against 64,747,319. Density: Mexico 67 per km², South Africa 53 per km².