Italy vs United Kingdom

Italy is 1.2 times larger than United Kingdom — 301,340 against 243,610 km². United Kingdom is 1.2 times more populous than Italy — 69,487,000 against 58,915,656 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Kingdom is 1.5 times more densely populated than Italy — 285 against 196 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 — Italy on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Euro and the British pound.

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.

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.