China vs Turkey

China is 12 times larger than Turkey — 9,596,960 against 783,562 km². China is 16 times more populous than Turkey — 1,406,585,000 against 85,878,556 people.

Side by side

Population density

China is 1.3 times more densely populated than Turkey — 147 against 110 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 Turkish lira.

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.

Turkey

Istanbul is the only large city built on two continents, split by the Bosphorus. Cappadocia's fairy chimneys are eroded volcanic tuff, and the underground city at Derinkuyu goes down about 85 m over eighteen levels. Pamukkale's white terraces are travertine deposited by hot calcium-rich springs.

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.