Indonesia vs United Arab Emirates

Indonesia is 23 times larger than United Arab Emirates — 1,904,569 against 83,600 km². Indonesia is 25 times more populous than United Arab Emirates — 285,721,236 against 11,513,149 people.

Side by side

Population density

Indonesia is slightly more densely populated, by 8.9% — 150 against 138 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, United Arab Emirates on the right.
• Different currencies: the Indonesian rupiah and the United Arab Emirates dirham.
• Indonesia spans 3 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.

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.

United Arab Emirates

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 828 m, the tallest building in the world, and has been since 2010. Most of the country is desert; the Liwa Oasis on the edge of the Empty Quarter carries dunes over 250 m high. Jebel Jais in the Hajar mountains reaches 1,934 m and sees occasional snow.

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.