France vs Israel

France is 29 times larger than Israel — 643,801 against 21,937 km². France is 6.8 times more populous than Israel — 68,720,337 against 10,122,800 people.

Side by side

Population density

Israel is 4.3 times more densely populated than France — 461 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.

Practical differences

• Different currencies: the Euro and the Israeli new shekel.
• Different continents — Europe and Asia.

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.

Israel

The Dead Sea shore is the lowest exposed land on Earth, about 430 m below sea level, and the water is around ten times saltier than the ocean. Israel recycles a higher share of its wastewater than any other country — roughly 85 percent — and most drinking water now comes from Mediterranean desalination.

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.