China vs Hong Kong

China is 8662 times larger than Hong Kong — 9,596,960 against 1,108 km². China is 188 times more populous than Hong Kong — 1,406,585,000 against 7,498,900 people.

Side by side

Population density

Hong Kong is 46 times more densely populated than China — 6,768 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

• They drive on opposite sides — China on the right, Hong Kong on the left.
• Different currencies: the Chinese yuan and the Hong Kong dollar.

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.

Hong Kong

One of the most densely populated places on Earth, yet roughly three-quarters of its land is undeveloped countryside and about forty percent is protected country park. It has 263 islands and around 730 km of coastline. There are more skyscrapers over 150 m here than in any other city.

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.