Panama vs South Africa
South Africa is 16.5 times larger than Panama. Panama would fit into South Africa about 16 times.
PanamaSouth AfricaPanama moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.06×
Panama is 0.06× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 16.5× the size of Panama.
| Panama | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 74,177 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 4,571,189 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 62 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Panama City | 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. Panama sits at about 9°N and is stretched to 1.02× 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 Panama bigger than South Africa?
- No. Panama is 16.5 times smaller than South Africa. Panama covers 74,177 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Panama fit into South Africa?
- About 16 times: South Africa has 16.5× the area of Panama.
- Why do Panama and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Panama is drawn about 1.02× 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, Panama or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 4,571,189. Density: Panama 62 per km², South Africa 53 per km².