---
title: "South Africa vs Spain — area, population, currency"
description: "South Africa is 1,219,090 km² with 64,747,319 people; Spain is 505,370 km² with 49,355,143. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/south-africa-vs-spain/
site: "At One Place"
---

# South Africa vs Spain

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

1,219,090 km² vs 505,370 km² · 64,747,319 vs 49,355,143

South Africa is 2.4 times larger than Spain — 1,219,090 against 505,370 km². South Africa is 1.3 times more populous than Spain — 64,747,319 against 49,355,143 people.

## Side by side

|  | South Africa | Spain |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) | Madrid |
| Area | 1,219,090 km² | 505,370 km² |
| Population | 64,747,319 (2025) | 49,355,143 (2025) |
| Density | 53.1 /km² | 97.7 /km² |
| Currency | South African rand (ZAR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Official languages | Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu | Spanish |
| Time zones | UTC+02:00 | UTC+00:00, UTC+01:00 |
| Calling code | +27 | +34 |
| Drives on the | left | right |
| Continent | Africa | Europe |
| ISO codes | ZA / ZAF | ES / ESP |

## Population density

Spain is 1.8 times more densely populated than South Africa — 98 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 — South Africa on the left, Spain on the right.
- Different currencies: the South African rand and the Euro.
- Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- Different continents — Africa and Europe.

## 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.

## Spain

After Switzerland, Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe, with an average elevation around 650 m. The Canary Islands sit off Africa, which is why part of Spain is on a different time zone and why Teide, at 3,715 m, is the country's highest point. Spain has more olive trees than any other country, around 340 million.

> 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 South Africa bigger than Spain?

South Africa is larger — 1,219,090 km² against 505,370 km².

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

South Africa, with 64,747,319 against 49,355,143.

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

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

## Related pages

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