Finland vs Spain

Spain is 1.5 times larger than Finland — 505,370 against 338,145 km². Spain is 8.7 times more populous than Finland — 49,355,143 against 5,646,436 people.

Side by side

Population density

Spain is 5.8 times more densely populated than Finland — 98 against 17 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

• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.

Finland

Finland has roughly 188,000 lakes and 179,000 islands, more of each per unit area than any other country. About three-quarters of the land is forest, the highest proportion in Europe. A quarter of the country lies north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun stays up for weeks in summer and down for weeks in winter.

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.