World Bank · 14 metrics compared
Nigeria vs South Africa
Nigeria and South Africa compared across 14 demographic and economic metrics. South Africa leads in 6 of the comparable categories.
4
Nigeria wins
6
South Africa wins
| Metric | Nigeria | South Africa |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 227,882,945 | 63,212,384 |
| GDP Per Capita | $2,139 | $6,034 |
| Life Expectancy | 54.5 | 66.1 |
| Population Growth Rate | 2.10 | 1.33 |
| Urban Population | 62.2% | 63.6% |
| Fertility Rate | 4.48 | 2.22 |
| Infant Mortality (per 1000) | 70.1 | 24.3 |
| Literacy Rate | 63.2% | 90.0% |
| Unemployment Rate | 3.1% | 32.1% |
| Internet Users | 39.1% | 78.3% |
| CO2 Per Capita (tonnes) | - | - |
| Physicians Per 1000 | 0.38 | 0.79 |
| Gini Index | 33.9 | 54.1 |
| Forest Area | 23.2% | 14.0% |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Nigeria has a population of 227,882,945 compared to South Africa's 63,212,384.
Across the metrics compared, Nigeria leads in 4 categories while South Africa leads in 6. However, "better" depends on what matters most to you, income, cost of living, education, climate, and personal preferences all play a role.
International data from the World Bank Open Data API. Population and economic data are latest available estimates.
Comparison based on World Bank Open Data. Most recent available year used for each metric. Green highlighting indicates favorable values where applicable.
The side-by-side above pulls the the U.S. Census Bureau ACS and decennial files data for both entity A and entity B. What follows is the interpretation — which specific axes carry the most weight for entity A versus entity B, and which differences are large enough to influence a real decision.
Practical use of the comparison: read the data above, then drill into the individual entity A and entity B detail pages for the underlying breakdown. A pairwise comparison answers the relative question; the per-entity pages answer the absolute question.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS, 2026.