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South Africa Geography 2018

SOURCE: 2018 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES











South Africa Geography 2018
SOURCE: 2018 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES


Page last updated on February 28, 2018

Location:
Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa

Geographic coordinates:
29 00 S, 24 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 1,219,090 sq km
[see also: Area - total country ranks ]
land: 1,214,470 sq km
[see also: Area - land country ranks ]
water: 4,620 sq km
[see also: Area - water country ranks ]
note: includes Prince Edward Islands (Marion Island and Prince Edward Island)
country comparison to the world: 26

Area - comparative:
slightly less than twice the size of Texas
Area comparison map: slightly less than twice the size of Texas

Land boundaries:
total: 5,244 km
[see also: Land boundaries - total country ranks ]
border countries (6): Botswana 1,969 km, Lesotho 1,106 km, Mozambique 496 km, Namibia 1,005 km, Swaziland 438 km, Zimbabwe 230 km

Coastline:
2,798 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
[see also: Maritime claims - territorial sea country ranks ]
contiguous zone: 24 nm
[see also: Maritime claims - contiguous zone country ranks ]
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
[see also: Maritime claims - exclusive economic zone country ranks ]
continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin
[see also: Maritime claims - continental shelf country ranks ]

Climate:
mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights
More Climate Details

Terrain:
vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain

Elevation:
mean elevation: 1,034 m
[see also: Elevation - mean elevation country ranks ]
elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Njesuthi 3,408 m

Natural resources:
gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, rare earth elements, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas

Land use:
agricultural land: 79.4% arable land 9.9%; permanent crops 0.3%; permanent pasture 69.2%
[see also: Land use - agricultural land country ranks ]
forest: 7.6%
[see also: Land use - forest country ranks ]
other: 13% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - other country ranks ]

Irrigated land:
16,700 sq km (2012)
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]

Population - distribution:
the population concentrated along the southern and southeastern coast, and inland around Petoria; the eastern half of the country is more densly populated than the west

Natural hazards:
prolonged droughts
volcanism: the volcano forming Marion Island in the Prince Edward Islands, which last erupted in 2004, is South Africa's only active volcano

Environment - current issues:
lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures; growth in water usage outpacing supply; pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge; air pollution resulting in acid rain; soil erosion; desertification

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland


NOTE: 1) The information regarding South Africa on this page is re-published from the 2018 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of South Africa Geography 2018 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about South Africa Geography 2018 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
  a) The assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
  b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order






This page was last modified 28-Feb-18
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