Nigeria vs South Africa
South Africa is 32% larger than Nigeria.
NigeriaSouth AfricaNigeria moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.76×
Nigeria is 0.76× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 1.32× the size of Nigeria.
| Nigeria | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 923,768 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 237,527,782 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 257 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Abuja | 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. Nigeria sits at about 10°N and is stretched to 1.03× 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 Nigeria bigger than South Africa?
- No. Nigeria is 24% smaller than South Africa. Nigeria covers 923,768 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Nigeria fit into South Africa?
- About 1.3 times: South Africa has 1.32× the area of Nigeria.
- Why do Nigeria and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Nigeria is drawn about 1.03× 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, Nigeria or South Africa?
- Nigeria: 237,527,782 people against 64,747,319. Density: Nigeria 257 per km², South Africa 53 per km².