Somalia vs South Africa
South Africa is 91% larger than Somalia. Somalia would fit into South Africa about 1.9 times.
SomaliaSouth AfricaSomalia moved onto South Africa · Equal-area projection
0.52×
Somalia is 0.52× the area of South Africa. Put the other way, South Africa is 1.91× the size of Somalia.
| Somalia | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 637,657 km² | 1,221,037 km² |
| Population | 19,654,739 | 64,747,319 |
| Density | 31 / km² | 53 / km² |
| Capital | Mogadishu | Pretoria |
| Region | Eastern Africa | Southern Africa |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 3 | 6 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Somalia sits at about 5°N 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 Somalia bigger than South Africa?
- No. Somalia is 48% smaller than South Africa. Somalia covers 637,657 km² and South Africa covers 1,221,037 km².
- How many times does Somalia fit into South Africa?
- About 1.9 times: South Africa has 1.91× the area of Somalia.
- Why do Somalia and South Africa look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Somalia 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, Somalia or South Africa?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 19,654,739. Density: Somalia 31 per km², South Africa 53 per km².