Country size comparison
compared to
South Africa is about 1.9 times bigger than Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is approximately 652,230 sq km, while South Africa is approximately 1,219,090 sq km, making South Africa 87% larger than Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the population of Afghanistan is ~38.3 million people (19.2 million more people live in South Africa).
Tip:
This to-scale comparison of
Afghanistan
vs.
South Africa
uses the Mercator projection, which distorts the size of regions near the poles.
Try dragging the outline to reposition.
Compare further: South Africa vs. Afghanistan
Flip Comparison · See true size
See South Africa on top of Afghanistan
→
Quality of Life Comparison · 15 statistics
Be 3.3 times more likely to live below the poverty line in Afghanistan
→
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
Afghanistan is 34.5% cheaper than South Africa overall
→
Moving from South Africa to Afghanistan · 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.