Belgium vs United Kingdom

United Kingdom is 8.0 times larger than Belgium — 243,610 against 30,528 km². United Kingdom is 5.8 times more populous than Belgium — 69,487,000 against 11,941,781 people.

Side by side

Population density

Belgium is 1.4 times more densely populated than United Kingdom — 391 against 285 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

• They drive on opposite sides — Belgium on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Euro and the British pound.

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.

United Kingdom

Made up of Great Britain, the north-east of Ireland and around 6,000 smaller islands. No point in the UK is more than about 113 km from the sea. Ben Nevis, the highest point, is 1,345 m, which is modest — but the country has around 31,000 km of coastline once every inlet is counted.

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.