How Big Is South Africa - Interesting Facts
If you are planning a trip to South Africa, you’re probably interested in learning about the country. For example, what’s the culture like, how’s the weather, what kind of money/currency is used, what to wear in South Africa, what languages are spoken… and how big is South Africa.
Here’s an outline of South Africa’s size in terms of its surface, land, and water area, plus South Africa’s size compared with other countries.

Surface Area
Land Area
468,910 square miles / 1,214,470 square kilometers
The land area is 99.62% of South Africa’s surface area.
Water Area
1,780 square miles / 4,620 square kilometers
The water area is 0.38% of South Africa’s surface area. There are no natural lakes.

South Africa is:
- The 24th-largest country in the world;
- The ninth-biggest country in Africa;
- Bigger than every country in Europe;
- Except for Alaska, South Africa is bigger than every state in the USA;
Compared To Other Countries, South Africa is:
- slightly larger than Colombia
- twice the size of France
- three times the size of Japan
- four times the size of Italy
- five times the size of the United Kingdom
- ten times the size of North Korea
- half the size of Algeria
- a third the size of India
- a sixth the size of Australia
- a seventh the size of Brazil
- an eighth the size of China
- one 14th the size of Russia
Data provided by UN Statistics.