China vs Ecuador

China is 34 times larger than Ecuador — 9,596,960 against 283,561 km². China is 77 times more populous than Ecuador — 1,406,585,000 against 18,289,896 people.

Side by side

Population density

China is 2.3 times more densely populated than Ecuador — 147 against 65 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 Chinese yuan and the United States dollar.
• Ecuador spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Asia and South America.

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.

Ecuador

The summit of Chimborazo is the point on the Earth's surface farthest from the centre of the planet — about 2 km farther out than Everest — because the equatorial bulge lifts it. The Galápagos, 900 km offshore, are volcanic islands whose isolated species shaped Darwin's thinking. Ecuador is the smallest Andean country but holds a comparable share of the range's biodiversity.

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.