Indonesia vs Nigeria

Indonesia is 2.1 times larger than Nigeria — 1,904,569 against 923,768 km². Indonesia is 1.2 times more populous than Nigeria — 285,721,236 against 237,527,782 people.

Side by side

Population density

Nigeria is 1.7 times more densely populated than Indonesia — 257 against 150 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 — Indonesia on the left, Nigeria on the right.
• Different currencies: the Indonesian rupiah and the Nigerian naira.
• Indonesia spans 3 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Asia and Africa.

Indonesia

The largest archipelago in the world: official surveys count more than 17,000 islands, of which around 6,000 are inhabited, spread over 5,100 km of ocean. Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has about 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country. It also holds more of the world's remaining tropical peatland than anywhere except the Congo basin.

Nigeria

The most populous country in Africa, with roughly one African in six. The Niger Delta is the largest river delta in Africa at about 70,000 km², a maze of creeks and mangrove covering an area the size of Ireland.

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.