---
title: "Nigeria vs South Africa — area, population, currency"
description: "Nigeria is 923,768 km² with 237,527,782 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/nigeria-vs-south-africa/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Nigeria vs South Africa

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

923,768 km² vs 1,219,090 km² · 237,527,782 vs 64,747,319

South Africa is 1.3 times larger than Nigeria — 1,219,090 against 923,768 km². Nigeria is 3.7 times more populous than South Africa — 237,527,782 against 64,747,319 people.

## Side by side

|  | Nigeria | South Africa |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Abuja | Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) |
| Area | 923,768 km² | 1,219,090 km² |
| Population | 237,527,782 (2025) | 64,747,319 (2025) |
| Density | 257.1 /km² | 53.1 /km² |
| Currency | Nigerian naira (NGN) | South African rand (ZAR) |
| Official languages | English | Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu |
| Time zones | UTC+01:00 | UTC+02:00 |
| Calling code | +234 | +27 |
| Drives on the | right | left |
| Continent | Africa | Africa |
| ISO codes | NG / NGA | ZA / ZAF |

## Population density

Nigeria is 4.8 times more densely populated than South Africa — 257 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 — Nigeria on the right, South Africa on the left.
- Different currencies: the Nigerian naira and the South African rand.

## Nigeria

The most populous country in Africa, with roughly one African in six. The Niger Delta is the largest river delta in Africa at about 70,000 km², a maze of creeks and mangrove covering an area the size of Ireland.

## 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 Nigeria bigger than South Africa?

South Africa is larger — 1,219,090 km² against 923,768 km².

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

Nigeria, with 237,527,782 against 64,747,319.

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

Nigeria 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

- [Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country/nigeria/)
- [South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country/south-africa/)
- [India vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-nigeria/)
- [India vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-south-africa/)
- [China vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-nigeria/)
- [China vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-south-africa/)
- [Japan vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-nigeria/)
- [Japan vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-south-africa/)
- [Canada vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-nigeria/)
- [Canada vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-south-africa/)
- [Australia vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-nigeria/)
- [Australia vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-south-africa/)
- [New Zealand vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-nigeria/)
- [New Zealand vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-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]