Nicaragua vs South Africa
South Africa is 10.1 times larger than Nicaragua. Nicaragua would fit into South Africa about 10 times.
NicaraguaSouth AfricaNicaragua moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.1×
Nicaragua is 0.1× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 10.1× the size of Nicaragua.
| Nicaragua | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 120,340 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 7,007,502 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 58 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Managua | Pretoria |
| Region | Central America | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 2 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Nicaragua sits at about 13°N and is stretched to 1.05× 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 Nicaragua bigger than South Africa?
- No. Nicaragua is 10.1 times smaller than South Africa. Nicaragua covers 120,340 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Nicaragua fit into South Africa?
- About 10 times: South Africa has 10.1× the area of Nicaragua.
- Why do Nicaragua and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Nicaragua is drawn about 1.05× 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, Nicaragua or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 7,007,502. Density: Nicaragua 58 per km², South Africa 53 per km².