Portugal vs South Africa
South Africa is 13.2 times larger than Portugal. Portugal would fit into South Africa about 13 times.
PortugalSouth AfricaPortugal moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.08×
Portugal is 0.08× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 13.2× the size of Portugal.
| Portugal | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 92,225 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 10,804,871 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 117 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Lisbon | Pretoria |
| Region | Southern Europe | 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. Portugal sits at about 40°N and is stretched to 1.68× 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 Portugal bigger than South Africa?
- No. Portugal is 13.2 times smaller than South Africa. Portugal covers 92,225 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Portugal fit into South Africa?
- About 13 times: South Africa has 13.2× the area of Portugal.
- Why do Portugal and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Portugal is drawn about 1.68× 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, Portugal or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 10,804,871. Density: Portugal 117 per km², South Africa 53 per km².