Iraq vs United Kingdom

Iraq is 1.8 times larger than United Kingdom — 438,317 against 243,610 km². United Kingdom is 1.5 times more populous than Iraq — 69,487,000 against 47,020,774 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Kingdom is 2.7 times more densely populated than Iraq — 285 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

• They drive on opposite sides — Iraq on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Iraqi dinar and the British pound.
• Different continents — Asia and Europe.

Iraq

The Tigris and Euphrates run the length of the country and meet at Al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab. The Mesopotamian Marshes at their lower end are among the largest wetlands in western Eurasia. Uruk, on the Euphrates, was one of the first cities in the world.

United Kingdom

Made up of Great Britain, the north-east of Ireland and around 6,000 smaller islands. No point in the UK is more than about 113 km from the sea. Ben Nevis, the highest point, is 1,345 m, which is modest — but the country has around 31,000 km of coastline once every inlet is counted.

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.