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Population Review

World Bank · 14 metrics compared

South Africa vs Kenya

South Africa and Kenya compared across 14 demographic and economic metrics. South Africa leads in 7 of the comparable categories.

2

Kenya wins

MetricSouth AfricaKenya
Population63,212,38455,339,003
GDP Per Capita$6,034$1,943
Life Expectancy66.163.6
Population Growth Rate1.331.98
Urban Population63.6%31.6%
Fertility Rate2.223.21
Infant Mortality (per 1000)24.334.7
Literacy Rate90.0%-
Unemployment Rate32.1%5.4%
Internet Users78.3%29.4%
CO2 Per Capita (tonnes)--
Physicians Per 10000.790.29
Gini Index54.138.5
Forest Area14.0%6.2%

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Frequently Asked Questions

South Africa has a population of 63,212,384 compared to Kenya's 55,339,003.

Across the metrics compared, South Africa leads in 7 categories while Kenya leads in 2. 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.