China vs Nigeria

China is 10 times larger than Nigeria — 9,596,960 against 923,768 km². China is 5.9 times more populous than Nigeria — 1,406,585,000 against 237,527,782 people.

Side by side

Population density

Nigeria is 1.8 times more densely populated than China — 257 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 Nigerian naira.
• 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.

Nigeria

The most populous country in Africa, with roughly one African in six. The Niger Delta is the largest river delta in Africa at about 70,000 km², a maze of creeks and mangrove covering an area the size of Ireland.

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.