South Africa
South Africa
Capital Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial)
1,219,090 km² · 64,747,319 people (2025) · South African rand
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.
The facts
- Capital
- Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial)
- Largest city
- Johannesburg
- Area
- 1,219,090 km² — 470,693 sq mi
- Population
- 64,747,319 (2025)
- Density
- 53.1 people per km²
- Currency
- South African rand (ZAR, R)
- Official languages
- Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
- Time zone
- UTC+02:00
- Calling code
- +27
- Drives on the
- left
- ISO codes
- ZA · ZAF
- Continent
- Africa
How it compares
- By area
- 25 of 200
- By population
- 24 of 200
Population is the only figure on this page that dates — it is a 2025 estimate and will drift. Area, capital, currency, languages, calling code and driving side change rarely or never.
Countries of a similar size
| Country | Area (km²) | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Angola | 1,246,700 | 39,040,039 |
| Mali | 1,240,192 | 25,198,821 |
| South Africa ← | 1,219,090 | 64,747,319 |
| Colombia | 1,138,910 | 53,425,635 |
| Ethiopia | 1,104,300 | 135,472,051 |
Common questions
- What is the capital of South Africa?
- Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial)
- What currency does South Africa use?
- The South African rand (ZAR).
- How big is South Africa?
- 1,219,090 km², or 470,693 square miles — 25 of 200 by area.
- Which side of the road does South Africa drive on?
- The left.
Related pages
Sources
- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (CC BY 4.0)