---
title: "South Africa vs United Arab Emirates — area, population, curre"
description: "South Africa is 1,219,090 km² with 64,747,319 people; United Arab Emirates is 83,600 km² with 11,513,149. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by s"
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/south-africa-vs-united-arab-emirates/
site: "At One Place"
---

# South Africa vs United Arab Emirates

**South Africa vs United Arab Emirates: South Africa is larger; South Africa has more people**

1,219,090 km² vs 83,600 km² · 64,747,319 vs 11,513,149

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

|  | South Africa | United Arab Emirates |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) | Abu Dhabi |
| Area | 1,219,090 km² | 83,600 km² |
| Population | 64,747,319 (2025) | 11,513,149 (2025) |
| Density | 53.1 /km² | 137.7 /km² |
| Currency | South African rand (ZAR) | United Arab Emirates dirham (AED) |
| Official languages | Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu | Arabic |
| Time zones | UTC+02:00 | UTC+04:00 |
| Calling code | +27 | +971 |
| Drives on the | left | right |
| Continent | Africa | Asia |
| ISO codes | ZA / ZAF | AE / ARE |

## 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.

## Common questions

### Is South Africa bigger than United Arab Emirates?

South Africa is larger — 1,219,090 km² against 83,600 km².

### Which has more people, South Africa or United Arab Emirates?

South Africa, with 64,747,319 against 11,513,149.

### What is the time difference between South Africa and United Arab Emirates?

South Africa is UTC+02:00 and United Arab Emirates is UTC+04:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country/south-africa/)
- [United Arab Emirates](https://atoneplace.net/country/united-arab-emirates/)
- [India vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-south-africa/)
- [India vs United Arab Emirates](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-united-arab-emirates/)
- [China vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-south-africa/)
- [China vs United Arab Emirates](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-united-arab-emirates/)
- [Japan vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-south-africa/)
- [Japan vs United Arab Emirates](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-arab-emirates/)
- [Canada vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-south-africa/)
- [Canada vs United Arab Emirates](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/canada-vs-united-arab-emirates/)
- [Australia vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-south-africa/)
- [Australia vs United Arab Emirates](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/australia-vs-united-arab-emirates/)
- [New Zealand vs South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-south-africa/)
- [New Zealand vs United Arab Emirates](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/new-zealand-vs-united-arab-emirates/)

## 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]