China vs Kenya

China is 17 times larger than Kenya — 9,596,960 against 580,367 km². China is 24 times more populous than Kenya — 1,406,585,000 against 57,532,493 people.

Side by side

Population density

China is 1.5 times more densely populated than Kenya — 147 against 99 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, Kenya on the left.
• Different currencies: the Chinese yuan and the Kenyan shilling.
• Different continents — Asia and Africa.

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.

Kenya

The Great Rift Valley runs the length of the country, and the equator crosses it just north of Nairobi. Mount Kenya reaches 5,199 m and carries glaciers within 20 km of the equator. Lake Turkana in the north is the largest permanent desert lake in the world.

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.