---
title: "France vs South Africa — area, population, currency"
description: "France is 643,801 km² with 68,720,337 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/france-vs-south-africa/
site: "At One Place"
---

# France vs South Africa

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

643,801 km² vs 1,219,090 km² · 68,720,337 vs 64,747,319

South Africa is 1.9 times larger than France — 1,219,090 against 643,801 km². France is slightly more populous, by 6.1% — 68,720,337 against 64,747,319 people.

## Side by side

|  | France | South Africa |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Paris | Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) |
| Area | 643,801 km² | 1,219,090 km² |
| Population | 68,720,337 (2025) | 64,747,319 (2025) |
| Density | 106.7 /km² | 53.1 /km² |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | South African rand (ZAR) |
| Official languages | French | Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
| Time zones | UTC+01:00 | UTC+02:00 |
| Calling code | +33 | +27 |
| Drives on the | right | left |
| Continent | Europe | Africa |
| ISO codes | FR / FRA | ZA / ZAF |

## Population density

France is 2.0 times more densely populated than South Africa — 107 against 53 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 — France on the right, South Africa on the left.
- Different currencies: the Euro and the South African rand.
- Different continents — Europe and Africa.

## France

Mont Blanc on the Italian border is 4,806 m, the highest point in western Europe. Counting its overseas departments, France spans twelve time zones — more than any other country — and its exclusive economic zone is the second largest in the world. The Gouffre Mirolda and other Alpine systems make it one of the great caving countries.

## 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 France bigger than South Africa?

South Africa is larger — 1,219,090 km² against 643,801 km².

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

France, with 68,720,337 against 64,747,319.

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

France is UTC+01:00 and South Africa is UTC+02:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

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

## 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]