---
title: "China vs India — area, population, currency"
description: "China is 9,596,960 km² with 1,406,585,000 people; India is 3,287,263 km² with 1,463,865,525. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-india/
site: "At One Place"
---

# China vs India

**China vs India: China is larger; India has more people**

9,596,960 km² vs 3,287,263 km² · 1,406,585,000 vs 1,463,865,525

China is 2.9 times larger than India — 9,596,960 against 3,287,263 km². India is slightly more populous, by 4.1% — 1,463,865,525 against 1,406,585,000 people.

## Side by side

|  | China | India |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Beijing | New Delhi |
| Area | 9,596,960 km² | 3,287,263 km² |
| Population | 1,406,585,000 (2025) | 1,463,865,525 (2025) |
| Density | 146.6 /km² | 445.3 /km² |
| Currency | Chinese yuan (CNY) | Indian rupee (INR) |
| Official languages | Standard Chinese | Hindi, English |
| Time zones | UTC+08:00 | UTC+05:30 |
| Calling code | +86 | +91 |
| Drives on the | right | left |
| Continent | Asia | Asia |
| ISO codes | CN / CHN | IN / IND |

## Population density

India is 3.0 times more densely populated than China — 445 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, India on the left.
- Different currencies: the Chinese yuan and the Indian rupee.

## 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.

## India

The most populous country in the world since 2023. The Ganges-Brahmaputra system drains the southern Himalaya into the largest delta on Earth, and Mawsynram and Cherrapunji in Meghalaya are the wettest inhabited places on record, with roughly 11 m of rain a year. Mumbai is the largest individual municipality; the Delhi urban agglomeration, which contains the capital, is larger still at around 33 million.

> 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.

## Common questions

### Is China bigger than India?

China is larger — 9,596,960 km² against 3,287,263 km².

### Which has more people, China or India?

India, with 1,463,865,525 against 1,406,585,000.

### What is the time difference between China and India?

China is UTC+08:00 and India is UTC+05:30. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [China](https://atoneplace.net/country/china/)
- [India](https://atoneplace.net/country/india/)
- [India vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-united-states/)
- [India vs United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [India vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-new-zealand/)
- [India vs Italy](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-italy/)
- [India vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-russia/)
- [India vs Mexico](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-mexico/)
- [India vs Spain](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-spain/)
- [India vs South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-south-korea/)
- [India vs Netherlands](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-netherlands/)
- [India vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-nigeria/)
- [India vs Turkey](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-turkey/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]