Belgium vs China

China is 314 times larger than Belgium — 9,596,960 against 30,528 km². China is 118 times more populous than Belgium — 1,406,585,000 against 11,941,781 people.

Side by side

Population density

Belgium is 2.7 times more densely populated than China — 391 against 147 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

Practical differences

• Different currencies: the Euro and the Chinese yuan.
• Different continents — Europe and Asia.

Belgium

One of the most densely populated countries in Europe, and one of the most brightly lit — its motorway lighting was long visible from orbit as a distinct grid. The Signal de Botrange, its highest point, is only 694 m. Antwerp handles the majority of the world's rough diamond trade.

China

The largest country in the world using a single time zone, so the sun rises in the far west around three hours later by the clock than in Beijing. China has a land border with fourteen countries — more than any other state except Russia, which also has fourteen. Its terrain runs from Mount Everest on the Nepalese border to the Turpan Depression at 154 m below sea level.

Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.