Papua New Guinea vs South Africa
South Africa is 2.64 times larger than Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea would fit into South Africa about 2.6 times.
Papua New GuineaSouth AfricaPapua New Guinea moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.38×
Papua New Guinea is 0.38× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 2.64× the size of Papua New Guinea.
| Papua New Guinea | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 462,840 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 10,762,817 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 23 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Port Moresby | Pretoria |
| Region | Melanesia | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 1 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Papua New Guinea sits at about 6°S and is stretched to 1.01× 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 Papua New Guinea bigger than South Africa?
- No. Papua New Guinea is 2.64 times smaller than South Africa. Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Papua New Guinea fit into South Africa?
- About 2.6 times: South Africa has 2.64× the area of Papua New Guinea.
- Why do Papua New Guinea and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Papua New Guinea is drawn about 1.01× 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, Papua New Guinea or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 10,762,817. Density: Papua New Guinea 23 per km², South Africa 53 per km².