---
title: "Canada vs South Africa — area, population, currency"
description: "Canada is 9,984,670 km² with 41,651,653 people; South Africa is 1,219,090 km² with 64,747,319. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-south-africa/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Canada vs South Africa

**Canada vs South Africa: Canada is larger; South Africa has more people**

9,984,670 km² vs 1,219,090 km² · 41,651,653 vs 64,747,319

Canada is 8.2 times larger than South Africa — 9,984,670 against 1,219,090 km². South Africa is 1.6 times more populous than Canada — 64,747,319 against 41,651,653 people.

## Side by side

|  | Canada | South Africa |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Ottawa | Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) |
| Area | 9,984,670 km² | 1,219,090 km² |
| Population | 41,651,653 (2025) | 64,747,319 (2025) |
| Density | 4.2 /km² | 53.1 /km² |
| Currency | Canadian dollar (CAD) | South African rand (ZAR) |
| Official languages | English, French | Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
| Time zones | UTC-08:00, UTC-07:00, UTC-06:00, UTC-05:00, UTC-04:00, UTC-03:30 | UTC+02:00 |
| Calling code | +1 | +27 |
| Drives on the | right | left |
| Continent | North America | Africa |
| ISO codes | CA / CAN | ZA / ZAF |

## Population density

South Africa is 13 times more densely populated than Canada — 53 against 4 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

## Practical differences

- They drive on opposite sides — Canada on the right, South Africa on the left.
- Different currencies: the Canadian dollar and the South African rand.
- Canada spans 6 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- Different continents — North America and Africa.

## Canada

The second-largest country in the world by total area, and the longest coastline of any — about 202,000 km, more than the rest of the world put together. Canada holds more lake area than every other country combined, and something over two million lakes. Its border with the United States is the longest between any two countries at 8,891 km.

## South Africa

One of only a handful of countries with more than one capital, and the only one with three. The Vredefort Dome south-west of Johannesburg is the largest verified impact crater on Earth, about 300 km across and 2 billion years old. The Cape Floral Region packs roughly 9,000 plant species into a small corner of the country, most of them found nowhere else.

> Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.

## Common questions

### Is Canada bigger than South Africa?

Canada is larger — 9,984,670 km² against 1,219,090 km².

### Which has more people, Canada or South Africa?

South Africa, with 64,747,319 against 41,651,653.

### What is the time difference between Canada and South Africa?

Canada is UTC-08:00, UTC-07:00, UTC-06:00, UTC-05:00, UTC-04:00, UTC-03:30 and South Africa is UTC+02:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Canada](https://atoneplace.net/country/canada/)
- [South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country/south-africa/)
- [India vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-south-africa/)
- [China vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-south-africa/)
- [Japan vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-south-africa/)
- [Canada vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-united-states/)
- [Canada vs India](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-india/)
- [Canada vs China](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-china/)
- [Canada vs United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [Canada vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-japan/)
- [Canada vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Canada vs France](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-france/)
- [Canada vs Germany](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-germany/)
- [Canada vs Italy](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-italy/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]