CountryDuel

Southern Africa · sovereign state

South Africa

Republic of South Africa

Capital
Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town
Languages
Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho
Currency
South African rand
People
64.7 million (2025)
Neighbours
6
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Duel the world median ⌛ How has South Africa changed? 📜 Since 1800 →

Greetings from

South Africa

  • 2nd highest unemployment 32.4% · #2 of 186 · 2025
  • 5th highest homicide rate 43.7 per 100k · #5 of 160 · 2022
  • 8th highest farmland 79.4% · #8 of 205 · 2024

Surprising facts about South Africa

The comparisons that stand out most against its neighbours, its region and the world median.

Picked for surprise among South Africa’s neighbours, its region and the world median.

South Africa among 213 countries & territories

Each dot shows where South Africa sits between the lowest and the highest value in the world; “See it” opens the full visual against the world median. Higher is not automatically better.

World twins

The countries most like South Africa across 12 indicators (GDP/person, Life exp., Median age, Fertility, Urban, Internet, Schooling, CO₂/person, Density, Temperature, Happiness, Obesity). Each indicator is standardised and compared by average distance; a resemblance, not a score.

Next door

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Countries sharing a land border. Tap one to compare. Equal-area map centred on South Africa.

Natural rivals

About the same size

About as many people