China vs Vatican City

China is 21811273 times larger than Vatican City — 9,596,960 against 0 km². China is 1406585 times more populous than Vatican City — 1,406,585,000 against 1,000 people.

Side by side

Population density

Vatican City is 16 times more densely populated than China — 2,273 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 Euro.
• 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.

Vatican City

The smallest country in the world by both area and population: about 0.44 km², or roughly an eighth the size of New York's Central Park, with fewer than a thousand residents. Its border with Rome is about 3.4 km long. St Peter's Basilica covers around 15,000 m² and is one of the largest churches ever built.

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.