Hong Kong vs Italy

Italy is 272 times larger than Hong Kong — 301,340 against 1,108 km². Italy is 7.9 times more populous than Hong Kong — 58,915,656 against 7,498,900 people.

Side by side

Population density

Hong Kong is 35 times more densely populated than Italy — 6,768 against 196 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

• They drive on opposite sides — Hong Kong on the left, Italy on the right.
• Different currencies: the Hong Kong dollar and the Euro.
• Different continents — Asia and Europe.

Hong Kong

One of the most densely populated places on Earth, yet roughly three-quarters of its land is undeveloped countryside and about forty percent is protected country park. It has 263 islands and around 730 km of coastline. There are more skyscrapers over 150 m here than in any other city.

Italy

Italy has three of Europe's most active volcanoes — Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius — and Stromboli has been erupting more or less continuously for at least 2,000 years. It has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country. The Alps and Apennines mean about three-quarters of the land is mountain or hill.

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.