This article is about the southern half of planet Earth. For use of the term describing astronomical observations, seeSouthern celestial hemisphere.
The Southern Hemisphere from above theSouth PoleThe Southern Hemisphere is highlighted in yellow. The hemispheres appear to be unequal in this image becauseAntarctica is not shown.
Owing to the tilt ofEarth's rotation relative to theSun and theecliptic plane,summer is from December to February (inclusive) andwinter is from June to August (inclusive). September 22 or 23 is the vernalequinox and March 20 or 21 is the autumnal equinox. TheSouth Pole is in the centre of the southern hemispherical region.
Southern Hemisphereclimates tend to be slightly milder than those at similar latitudes in theNorthern Hemisphere, except in theAntarctic which is colder than theArctic. This is because the Southern Hemisphere has significantly more ocean and much less land; water heats up and cools down more slowly than land.[3] The differences are also attributed to oceanic heat transfer and differing extents of greenhouse trapping.[4]
In the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun passes from east to west through the north, although north of theTropic of Capricorn themean Sun can be directly overhead or due south at midday. The Sun follows a right-to-left trajectory through the northern sky unlike the left-to-right motion of the Sun when seen from the Northern Hemisphere as it passes through the southern sky. Sun-cast shadows turn anticlockwise throughout the day andsundials have the hours increasing in theanticlockwise direction. Duringsolar eclipses viewed from a point to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the Moon moves from left to right on the disc of the Sun (see, for example, photos with timings of thesolar eclipse of November 13, 2012), while viewed from a point to the north of theTropic of Cancer (i.e., in the Northern Hemisphere), the Moon moves from right to left during solar eclipses.
TheCoriolis effect causes cyclones and tropical storms to spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, as opposed toanticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.[5]
The southerntemperate zone, a subsection of the Southern Hemisphere, is nearly all oceanic.
TheSagittarius constellation that includes thegalactic centre is a southern constellation as well as bothMagellanic Clouds. This, combined with clearer skies, makes for excellent viewing of the night sky from the Southern Hemisphere with brighter and more numerous stars.
One of the most notable animals to be found almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere is thepenguin. A species is found aroundIsabela Island on theGalápagos archipelago in thePacific Ocean, which straddles the equator.[6] However, most of Isabela and the rest of the archipelago is located in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is deemed by theInternational Hydrographic Organization as being wholly within the South Pacific Ocean, rather than the North Pacific.[7]
A photo of Earth fromApollo 17 (Blue Marble) with the south pole at the top and the continent of Africa
More than 850 million people live in the Southern Hemisphere, representing around 10–12% of the total global human population.[8][9] Of those 850 million people, more than 203 million live inBrazil, the largest country by land area in the Southern Hemisphere, while more than 150 million live inJava, the most populous island in the world. The most populous country in the Southern Hemisphere isIndonesia, with 275 million people (roughly 30 million of whom live north of the Equator on the northern portions of the islands ofSumatra,Borneo, andSulawesi, as well as most ofNorth Maluku, while the rest of the population lives in the Southern Hemisphere).[citation needed] The most populous country entirely located within the Southern Hemisphere isTanzania, with an estimated population of roughly 67 million people as of 2024.[10]Portuguese is one of the most spoken languages in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 230 million speakers in six countries – mostly in Brazil, but also inAngola,Mozambique,East Timor, and small parts ofSão Tomé and Príncipe that lie south of theEquator.[11]
Among the most developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere is Australia, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$63,487 and aHuman Development Index (HDI) of 0.946, the tenth-highest in the world as of the 2024 report. New Zealand is also well developed, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$48,072 and an HDI of 0.939, putting it at number 16 in the world in 2024. The least developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere cluster in Africa and Oceania, withMozambique andBurundi at the lowest ends of the HDI, at 0.461 (number 183 in the world) and 0.420 (number 187 in the world), respectively. The nominal GDPs per capita of these two countries do not go above US$650, a tiny fraction of the incomes enjoyed by Australians and New Zealanders.
The Southern Hemisphere has long been secondary in the global distribution of demographic, economic and political power, as it has less land than the Northern Hemisphere.[17] In recent times, however, countries such as Australia have made greater efforts to economically engage with those from their hemisphere.[17] Before theAge of Discovery, the Southern Hemisphere was largely cut off from the cultural constructs of theWestern andEastern worlds.[17] Some view both the West and the East as being Northern Hemisphere-centric concepts.[18]
The most widespread religions in the modern Southern Hemisphere areChristianity, prevalent in South America, Africa, Oceania, andEast Timor, followed byIslam in East Africa andIndonesia, andHinduism, which is mostly concentrated on/around the islands ofBali,Mauritius, andFiji.[19]
The oldest continuously inhabited city in the Southern Hemisphere isBogor, in westernJava, which was founded in 669. Ancient texts from the Hindu kingdoms prevalent in the area definitively record 669 CE as the year when Bogor was founded. However, some evidence shows thatZanzibar, an ancient port with around 200,000 inhabitants off the coast ofTanzania, may be older than Bogor. A Greco-Roman text written between 1 and 100 CE, thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea, mentioned the island ofMenuthias (Ancient Greek: Μενουθιάς) as a trading port on the east African coast, which is probably the small Tanzanian island ofUnguja on which Zanzibar is located. The oldest monumental civilizations in the Southern Hemisphere are theNorte Chico civilization andCasma–Sechin culture from the northern coast of Peru. These civilizations built cities, pyramids, and plazas in the coastal river valleys of northern Peru with some ruins dating back to 3600 BCE.Easter Island, located about 3,500 km (2,200 mi) fromChile andFrench Polynesia, is considered to be the most remote place on Earth to have been permanently inhabited by humans before the Age of Discovery.[20] It was settled by aPolynesian group known as theRapa Nui. Areas of the Southern Hemisphere that had no contact with humans before the Age of Discovery includeChristmas Island andMauritius (in theIndian Ocean), theGalápagos Islands,Juan Fernández Islands andLord Howe Island (in the South Pacific), theFalkland Islands andTristan da Cunha (in theSouth Atlantic) and the continent ofAntarctica.
The entire continent and most of its associated islands are within the Southern Hemisphere. From theEquator (Latitude: 0°) toBishop and Clerk Islets, Tasmania, Australia (Latitude: 55°03′ S).
