Egypt vs Nigeria

Egypt is slightly larger, by 8.4% — 1,001,450 against 923,768 km². Nigeria is 2.0 times more populous than Egypt — 237,527,782 against 118,365,995 people.

Side by side

Population density

Nigeria is 2.2 times more densely populated than Egypt — 257 against 118 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 Egyptian pound and the Nigerian naira.

Egypt

Almost the entire population lives on the Nile valley and delta, which is only a few percent of the country's land area; the rest is desert. The Nile runs about 6,650 km from its headwaters to the Mediterranean. The Suez Canal, 193 km long, has no locks because the Mediterranean and Red Sea are close to the same 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.