Iran vs Spain

Iran is 3.3 times larger than Spain — 1,648,195 against 505,370 km². Iran is 1.9 times more populous than Spain — 92,417,681 against 49,355,143 people.

Side by side

Population density

Spain is 1.7 times more densely populated than Iran — 98 against 56 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 Iranian rial and the Euro.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Asia and Europe.

Iran

The Lut Desert has recorded the highest land surface temperatures ever measured from orbit, around 80 °C. Iran is largely a high plateau ringed by mountains — the Zagros and the Alborz, where Damavand reaches 5,610 m, the highest volcano in Asia. The qanat, an underground irrigation tunnel, has been used here for around 3,000 years.

Spain

After Switzerland, Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe, with an average elevation around 650 m. The Canary Islands sit off Africa, which is why part of Spain is on a different time zone and why Teide, at 3,715 m, is the country's highest point. Spain has more olive trees than any other country, around 340 million.

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.