Country size comparison
compared to
South Africa is about 8 times smaller than United States.
United States is approximately 9,833,517 sq km, while South Africa is approximately 1,219,090 sq km, making South Africa 12.4% the size of United States. Meanwhile, the population of United States is ~337.3 million people (279.8 million fewer people live in South Africa).
Tip: This to-scale comparison of United States 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. United States
Flip Comparison · See true size
See South Africa on top of United States
→
Quality of Life Comparison · 12 statistics
Make 5.1 times more money in United States
→
Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
United States is 2.8 times more expensive than South Africa overall
→
Moving from South Africa to United States · OECD 2023
3,180 people moved from South Africa to United States.
→
Our free app, MapSize by MyLifeElsewhere — compare any two places, to scale on your mobile device.