Italy vs Norway

Norway is slightly larger, by 7.5% — 323,802 against 301,340 km². Italy is 11 times more populous than Norway — 58,915,656 against 5,610,870 people.

Side by side

Population density

Italy is 11 times more densely populated than Norway — 196 against 17 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 Euro and the Norwegian krone.

Italy

Italy has three of Europe's most active volcanoes — Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius — and Stromboli has been erupting more or less continuously for at least 2,000 years. It has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country. The Alps and Apennines mean about three-quarters of the land is mountain or hill.

Norway

The mainland coastline is about 2,500 km end to end, but roughly 25,000 km following the fjords, and over 100,000 km counting the islands — one of the longest coastlines of any country. Sognefjord runs 205 km inland and is 1,308 m deep. Norway generates almost all its electricity from hydropower.

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.