South Africa vs Vanuatu
South Africa is 100 times larger than Vanuatu. Vanuatu would fit into South Africa about 100 times.
South AfricaVanuatuSouth Africa moved onto Vanuatu · Equal-area projection
100×
South Africa is 100× the area of Vanuatu.
| South Africa | Vanuatu | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 1,221,037 km² | 12,190 km² |
| Population | 64,747,319 | 335,169 |
| Density | 53 / km² | 27 / km² |
| Capital | Pretoria | Port-Vila |
| Region | Southern Africa | Melanesia |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 6 | 0 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. South Africa sits at about 29°S and is stretched to 1.31× its true area; Vanuatu at 16° S is stretched to 1.08×. 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 South Africa bigger than Vanuatu?
- Yes. South Africa is 100 times larger than Vanuatu. South Africa covers 1,221,037 km² and Vanuatu covers 12,190 km².
- How many times does Vanuatu fit into South Africa?
- About 100 times: South Africa has 100× the area of Vanuatu.
- Why do South Africa and Vanuatu look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. South Africa is drawn about 1.31× its true area there and Vanuatu about 1.08×. 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, South Africa or Vanuatu?
- South Africa: 64,747,319 people against 335,169. Density: South Africa 53 per km², Vanuatu 27 per km².