
Here’s a little perspective for you, updated for 2009:
Africa has a population of one billion, making up about 14.7% percent of the world’s human population.
Africa covers about 30.2 million km² – about 6% of the Earth’s surface and 20.4% of the total land area.
“(the continent of) Africa is larger than (the countries) China, the USA, Western Europe, India, Argentina, and the British Isles… combined!”
Image source: constantflux (via lots of others)