Sierra Leone vs South Africa
South Africa is 17 times larger than Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone would fit into South Africa about 17 times.
Sierra LeoneSouth AfricaSierra Leone moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.06×
Sierra Leone is 0.06× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 17× the size of Sierra Leone.
| Sierra Leone | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 71,740 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 8,819,794 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 123 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Freetown | Pretoria |
| Region | Western Africa | 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. Sierra Leone 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 Sierra Leone bigger than South Africa?
- No. Sierra Leone is 17 times smaller than South Africa. Sierra Leone covers 71,740 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Sierra Leone fit into South Africa?
- About 17 times: South Africa has 17× the area of Sierra Leone.
- Why do Sierra Leone and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Sierra Leone 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, Sierra Leone or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 8,819,794. Density: Sierra Leone 123 per km², South Africa 53 per km².