Well at least it’s on the map this time.

For real, they picked the most barren places on earth (except Europe). Most of the land mass of Canada, Australia, and Greenland are deserted. Midwest US is all farmland. No one lives in Siberia

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the whole point. I'm guessing they could pick one or two Central American or other African countries and get the same balance.

Also, picking on SA specifically smacks of the whole apartheid hangover thing that's going on.

Like, comparing it to China or India?

Comparing absolute numbers in a statistic like this is particularly egregious. At least make it per-capita. May as well compare the number of murders per year in the continental US to the number of murders per year in the entire polar regions. Shock, horror, American so violent!

Square kilometers?! But I thought the moon was round!

Cartography is lying.

South Africa has ~64 million people

Which is less than... Britain (~69 million)

Which is less area on the displayed map than the red section.