South Africa vs United Arab Emirates

South Africa is 15 times larger than United Arab Emirates — 1,219,090 against 83,600 km². South Africa is 5.6 times more populous than United Arab Emirates — 64,747,319 against 11,513,149 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Arab Emirates is 2.6 times more densely populated than South Africa — 138 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, United Arab Emirates on the right.
• Different currencies: the South African rand and the United Arab Emirates dirham.
• Different continents — Africa and Asia.

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.

United Arab Emirates

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 828 m, the tallest building in the world, and has been since 2010. Most of the country is desert; the Liwa Oasis on the edge of the Empty Quarter carries dunes over 250 m high. Jebel Jais in the Hajar mountains reaches 1,934 m and sees occasional snow.

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.