Colombia vs Spain

Colombia is 2.3 times larger than Spain — 1,138,910 against 505,370 km². Colombia is slightly more populous, by 8.2% — 53,425,635 against 49,355,143 people.

Side by side

Population density

Spain is 2.1 times more densely populated than Colombia — 98 against 47 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 Colombian peso and the Euro.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — South America and Europe.

Colombia

The only South American country with coastline on both the Pacific and the Caribbean. It has more bird species than any other country, around 1,900, and more orchid species too. The Andes split into three separate ranges here, and the Chocó on the Pacific side is among the wettest places on Earth, with over 10 m of rain a year in places.

Spain

After Switzerland, Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe, with an average elevation around 650 m. The Canary Islands sit off Africa, which is why part of Spain is on a different time zone and why Teide, at 3,715 m, is the country's highest point. Spain has more olive trees than any other country, around 340 million.

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.