South Africa
Pretoria · Southern Africa
South Africa is a country in Africa. Its capital city is Pretoria, the official currency is the South African Rand, and the main language is English.
With a population of roughly 60.4 million people spread over 1,221,037 km², South Africa is the 24th most populous country in the world and the 24th largest by area. That works out at about 49 people per square kilometre.
South Africa shares land borders with Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho — 6 neighbours in all. Its largest urban centres are Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The highest point in the country is Mafadi, at 3,450 metres.
For scale, it covers almost exactly the same area as Mali, while its population is closest to that of Italy.
- Capital
- Pretoria
- Region
- Southern Africa
- Population
- 60,400,000
- Area
- 1,221,037 km²
- Currency
- South African Rand
- Main language
- English
- Highest point
- Mafadi
3,450 m - Land borders
- 6
South Africa: things worth knowing
- South Africa has three capital cities: Pretoria for the executive, Cape Town for parliament and Bloemfontein for the judiciary.
- It recognises twelve official languages, among the most of any country.
- It completely surrounds Lesotho and produces a large share of the world's platinum.
South Africa in context
Africa has 54 sovereign countries in total. South Africa ranks 6th among them by population.
See the full list of Africa countries, or browse all 195 countries.