---
title: "Ireland vs South Africa — area, population, currency"
description: "Ireland is 70,273 km² with 5,484,367 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/ireland-vs-south-africa/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Ireland vs South Africa

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

70,273 km² vs 1,219,090 km² · 5,484,367 vs 64,747,319

South Africa is 17 times larger than Ireland — 1,219,090 against 70,273 km². South Africa is 12 times more populous than Ireland — 64,747,319 against 5,484,367 people.

## Side by side

|  | Ireland | South Africa |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Dublin | Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) |
| Area | 70,273 km² | 1,219,090 km² |
| Population | 5,484,367 (2025) | 64,747,319 (2025) |
| Density | 78.0 /km² | 53.1 /km² |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | South African rand (ZAR) |
| Official languages | English, Irish | Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
| Time zones | UTC+00:00 | UTC+02:00 |
| Calling code | +353 | +27 |
| Drives on the | left | left |
| Continent | Europe | Africa |
| ISO codes | IE / IRL | ZA / ZAF |

## Population density

Ireland is 1.5 times more densely populated than South Africa — 78 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

- Different currencies: the Euro and the South African rand.
- Different continents — Europe and Africa.

## Ireland

The interior is a low limestone plain ringed by coastal mountains, which is why the rivers drain inward and the middle of the country is bog. The Cliffs of Moher run 14 km and reach 214 m. Ireland has no native snakes, and only one native reptile.

## 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 Ireland bigger than South Africa?

South Africa is larger — 1,219,090 km² against 70,273 km².

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

South Africa, with 64,747,319 against 5,484,367.

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

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

## Related pages

- [Ireland](https://atoneplace.net/country/ireland/)
- [South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country/south-africa/)
- [India vs Ireland](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-ireland/)
- [India vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-south-africa/)
- [China vs Ireland](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-ireland/)
- [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 Ireland](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-ireland/)
- [Canada vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-south-africa/)
- [Australia vs Ireland](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-ireland/)
- [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 Ireland](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/france-vs-ireland/)
- [France vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/france-vs-south-africa/)

## 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]