Country size comparison
compared to
Costa Rica is about 24 times smaller than South Africa.
South Africa is approximately 1,219,090 sq km, while Costa Rica is approximately 51,100 sq km, making Costa Rica 4.19% the size of South Africa. Meanwhile, the population of South Africa is ~57.5 million people (52.3 million fewer people live in Costa Rica).
Tip:
This to-scale comparison of
South Africa
vs.
Costa Rica
uses the Mercator projection, which distorts the size of regions near the poles.
Try dragging the outline to reposition.
Compare further: Costa Rica vs. South Africa
Flip Comparison · See true size
See Costa Rica on top of South Africa
→
Quality of Life Comparison · 12 statistics
Be 3.4 times more likely to be unemployed in South Africa
→
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
South Africa is 32.7% cheaper than Costa Rica overall
→
Moving from Costa Rica to South Africa · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
→
Our free app, MapSize by MyLifeElsewhere — compare any two places, to scale on your mobile device.