Ireland vs Sweden

Sweden is 6.4 times larger than Ireland — 450,295 against 70,273 km². Sweden is 1.9 times more populous than Ireland — 10,596,620 against 5,484,367 people.

Side by side

Population density

Ireland is 3.3 times more densely populated than Sweden — 78 against 24 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, Sweden on the right.
• Different currencies: the Euro and the Swedish krona.

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.

Sweden

Sweden has roughly 267,000 islands, more than any other country, though only a small fraction are inhabited. Around seventy percent of it is forest, and a seventh lies above the Arctic Circle. Its right of public access lets anyone walk and camp on most uncultivated land.

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.