Country size comparison
compared to
South Africa is about 8 times smaller than China.
China is approximately 9,596,960 sq km, while South Africa is approximately 1,219,090 sq km, making South Africa 12.7% the size of China. Meanwhile, the population of China is ~1.4 billion people (1.4 billion fewer people live in South Africa).
Tip:
This to-scale comparison of
China
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. China
Flip Comparison · See true size
See South Africa on top of China
→
Quality of Life Comparison · 11 statistics
Be 83.3% less likely to be unemployed in China
→
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
China is 9.4% more expensive than South Africa overall
→
Moving from South Africa to China · 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.