China vs Sweden

China is 21 times larger than Sweden — 9,596,960 against 450,295 km². China is 133 times more populous than Sweden — 1,406,585,000 against 10,596,620 people.

Side by side

Population density

China is 6.2 times more densely populated than Sweden — 147 against 24 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 Swedish krona.
• Different continents — Asia and Europe.

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.

Sweden

Sweden has roughly 267,000 islands, more than any other country, though only a small fraction are inhabited. Around seventy percent of it is forest, and a seventh lies above the Arctic Circle. Its right of public access lets anyone walk and camp on most uncultivated land.

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.