China vs Indonesia

China is 5.0 times larger than Indonesia — 9,596,960 against 1,904,569 km². China is 4.9 times more populous than Indonesia — 1,406,585,000 against 285,721,236 people.

Side by side

Population density

Indonesia is slightly more densely populated, by 2.4% — 150 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, Indonesia on the left.
• Different currencies: the Chinese yuan and the Indonesian rupiah.
• Indonesia spans 3 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.

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.

Indonesia

The largest archipelago in the world: official surveys count more than 17,000 islands, of which around 6,000 are inhabited, spread over 5,100 km of ocean. Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has about 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country. It also holds more of the world's remaining tropical peatland than anywhere except the Congo basin.

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.