South Africa
Republic of South Africa
South Africa sits in Southern Africa and uses ZAR - South African rand (R). This profile combines identifiers, formats, map links, memberships, and the largest city records in one structured reference.
Capital
Pretoria
Population
63M
Area
1.2M km2
Population
63M
63,015,904 people
Area
1.2M km2
1,221,037 square kilometers
Density
52/km2
Population divided by land area
Capital
Pretoria
-25.74, 28.19
Detailed Country Guide
Overview and identity
South Africa, officially listed here as Republic of South Africa, is structured as a practical country reference guide for users searching country facts, maps, flags, codes, and daily-use data. The page should make South Africa, ZA, ZAF, the flag, the official name, and the country slug easy to confirm because users often land on country pages while checking identifiers for forms, travel, education, or data products. South Africa is grouped under Africa, more specifically Southern Africa, with Africa shown as the continent context.
Geography and population scale
The country dataset records a population of 63,015,904 people and a land area of 1,221,037 square kilometers, which gives an approximate density of 52 people per square kilometer. The main coordinate reference is -29, 24, while the capital coordinate reference is -25.74, 28.19. South Africa shares listed land borders with BWA, LSO, MOZ, NAM, SWZ, ZWE, and the landlocked value is recorded as no. These details help the page answer common searches around location, area, borders, map position, and population comparison.
Capital and urban network
The capital information is recorded as Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial). The largest city entries shown for this country are Johannesburg, Cape Town, Soweto, Gqeberha and Katlehong. Including cities alongside country-level facts helps the guide answer searches such as largest cities in South Africa, capital of South Africa, and major urban areas in South Africa. This is useful because many users compare the official capital with the largest business, transport, or population centers.
Government, classification, and memberships
The government type is listed as Unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency. The classification fields mark sovereignty as yes, United Nations membership as yes, observer status as no, and disputed status as no. International memberships shown for this page include African Union, BRICS, Commonwealth, G20 and United Nations. These fields support search intent around political status, country classification, and international organization membership.
Administrative formats and daily-use data
South Africa uses calling code +27, postal format ####, and time zone data listed as UTC+02:00. The number format uses , as the thousands separator and . as the decimal separator. The week starts on monday; the academic year starts around Jan 15; the government fiscal year starts around Apr 1; and the personal fiscal year starts around Mar 1.
Currency, language, transport, and references
Currency data lists ZAR - South African rand (R), while language records include Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. Vehicle data records the driving side as left and vehicle sign codes as ZA. Reference links should keep official, Wikipedia, Google Maps, and OpenStreetMap sources together when available so users can move from the structured country guide to map or source pages quickly. The latest Gini entry in the dataset is 54.1 for 2024.
How to use this profile
This South Africa profile is designed to be scanned in layers: first the name, official name, flag, capital, population, area, and density; then identity, geography, cities, governance, memberships, formats, connectivity, currency, languages, transport, and references. That structure supports both human readers and product workflows where users need to verify a phone code, compare cities, inspect fiscal dates, check postal formats, review memberships, or open a map reference without searching across multiple pages.
Country Snapshot
ISO codes
ZA / ZAF
Top-level domains
.za
Continents
Africa
Border countries
BWA, LSO, MOZ, NAM, SWZ, ZWE
Driving side
left
Vehicle signs
ZA
Flag And Identity
The flag entry for South Africa is represented by the ZA country flag asset.
Largest Cities
#1
Johannesburg
Gauteng
4,803,262
admin
#2
Cape Town
Western Cape
4,770,313
primary
#3
Soweto
Gauteng
1,271,628
City
#4
Gqeberha
Eastern Cape
967,677
City
#5
Katlehong
Gauteng
797,031
City
Governance
Government type
Unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency
Sovereign
Yes
UN member
Yes
Landlocked
No
Formats
Week starts
monday
Academic year
Jan 15
Government fiscal year
Apr 1
Number separators
, thousands, . decimal
Connectivity
Calling codes
+27
Postal format
####
Timezones
UTC+02:00
Languages
Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
International Memberships
Economy And References
Latest Gini entry
54.1
2024