Side-by-side comparison of South Africa and Kenya across population, economy, quality of life, and more. Data updated 2026.
How do South Africa and Kenya compare? South Africa, located in Africa, has a population of 61.1M and covers an area of 1.2M km². Its GDP (PPP) stands at $870.4B with a GDP per capita of $13,600. Kenya, in Africa, has a population of 55.8M across 580,367 km², with a GDP of $328.6B and GDP per capita of $5,800. In terms of quality of life, South Africa has a life expectancy of 71.9 years compared to Kenya's 70.4 years.