Ireland vs Switzerland

Ireland is 1.7 times larger than Switzerland — 70,273 against 41,277 km². Switzerland is 1.7 times more populous than Ireland — 9,092,436 against 5,484,367 people.

Side by side

Population density

Switzerland is 2.8 times more densely populated than Ireland — 220 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, Switzerland on the right.
• Different currencies: the Euro and the Swiss franc.

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.

Switzerland

The most mountainous country in Europe: the Alps cover about sixty percent of it and it has 48 peaks over 4,000 m. The Gotthard Base Tunnel, 57 km long, is the longest and deepest rail tunnel in the world. Switzerland has four official languages and about 1,500 lakes.

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.