Ethiopia vs Spain

Ethiopia is 2.2 times larger than Spain — 1,104,300 against 505,370 km². Ethiopia is 2.7 times more populous than Spain — 135,472,051 against 49,355,143 people.

Side by side

Population density

Ethiopia is 1.3 times more densely populated than Spain — 123 against 98 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 Ethiopian birr and the Euro.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Africa and Europe.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia has the highest mean elevation of any country in Africa, with more land above 3,000 m than the rest of the continent combined. The Blue Nile leaves Lake Tana here and supplies most of the Nile's flow during the flood season. The country keeps its own calendar of thirteen months, running seven to eight years behind the Gregorian one.

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.