Ireland vs South Korea

South Korea is 1.4 times larger than Ireland — 99,720 against 70,273 km². South Korea is 9.4 times more populous than Ireland — 51,684,564 against 5,484,367 people.

Side by side

Population density

South Korea is 6.6 times more densely populated than Ireland — 518 against 78 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 — Ireland on the left, South Korea on the right.
• Different currencies: the Euro and the South Korean won.
• Different continents — Europe and Asia.

Ireland

The interior is a low limestone plain ringed by coastal mountains, which is why the rivers drain inward and the middle of the country is bog. The Cliffs of Moher run 14 km and reach 214 m. Ireland has no native snakes, and only one native reptile.

South Korea

About seventy percent mountain, so the population is packed into the valleys and coastal plains; the Seoul metropolitan area holds roughly half the country. Jeju Island is a shield volcano whose lava tube system is among the finest in the world. South Korea has the fastest average internet connections of any large country.

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.