China vs Israel

China is 437 times larger than Israel — 9,596,960 against 21,937 km². China is 139 times more populous than Israel — 1,406,585,000 against 10,122,800 people.

Side by side

Population density

Israel is 3.1 times more densely populated than China — 461 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

• Different currencies: the Chinese yuan and the Israeli new shekel.

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.

Israel

The Dead Sea shore is the lowest exposed land on Earth, about 430 m below sea level, and the water is around ten times saltier than the ocean. Israel recycles a higher share of its wastewater than any other country — roughly 85 percent — and most drinking water now comes from Mediterranean desalination.

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.