France vs Germany

France is 1.8 times larger than Germany — 643,801 against 357,022 km². Germany is 1.2 times more populous than France — 83,491,249 against 68,720,337 people.

Side by side

Population density

Germany is 2.2 times more densely populated than France — 234 against 107 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.

France

Mont Blanc on the Italian border is 4,806 m, the highest point in western Europe. Counting its overseas departments, France spans twelve time zones — more than any other country — and its exclusive economic zone is the second largest in the world. The Gouffre Mirolda and other Alpine systems make it one of the great caving countries.

Germany

Germany borders nine countries, more than any other in Europe. The Rhine carries more freight than any other river in Europe. The country has around 25,000 castles and palaces, and the Black Forest and Bavarian Alps mean about a third of it is wooded.

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.