New Zealand vs South Africa
South Africa is 4.56 times larger than New Zealand. New Zealand would fit into South Africa about 4.6 times.
New ZealandSouth AfricaNew Zealand moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.22×
New Zealand is 0.22× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 4.56× the size of New Zealand.
| New Zealand | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 268,021 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 5,324,700 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 20 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Wellington | Pretoria |
| Region | Australia and New Zealand | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 0 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. New Zealand sits at about 42°S and is stretched to 1.79× 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 New Zealand bigger than South Africa?
- No. New Zealand is 4.56 times smaller than South Africa. New Zealand covers 268,021 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does New Zealand fit into South Africa?
- About 4.6 times: South Africa has 4.56× the area of New Zealand.
- Why do New Zealand and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. New Zealand is drawn about 1.79× 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, New Zealand or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 5,324,700. Density: New Zealand 20 per km², South Africa 53 per km².