FWIW, Python uses one of several Unicode string implementation representations, depending on the code points involved:

  >>> import sys
  >>> s = 'A' * 1000
  >>> len(s)
  1000
  >>> sys.getsizeof(s)
  1049
  >>> s = '\N{SNOWMAN WITHOUT SNOW}' * 1000
  >>> len(s)
  1000
  >>> sys.getsizeof(s)
  2074
  >>> s = '\N{MUSICAL SYMBOL G CLEF}' * 1000
  >>> len(s)
  1000
  >>> sys.getsizeof(s)
  4076