Malaysia vs Spain

Spain is 1.5 times larger than Malaysia — 505,370 against 329,847 km². Spain is 1.4 times more populous than Malaysia — 49,355,143 against 35,977,838 people.

Side by side

Population density

Malaysia is 1.1 times more densely populated than Spain — 109 against 98 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 — Malaysia on the left, Spain on the right.
• Different currencies: the Malaysian ringgit and the Euro.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Asia and Europe.

Malaysia

Split between the Malay Peninsula and northern Borneo, separated by about 640 km of the South China Sea. Mount Kinabalu on Borneo is 4,095 m and still rising a few millimetres a year. The rainforest here is estimated at 130 million years old, among the oldest on Earth.

Spain

After Switzerland, Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe, with an average elevation around 650 m. The Canary Islands sit off Africa, which is why part of Spain is on a different time zone and why Teide, at 3,715 m, is the country's highest point. Spain has more olive trees than any other country, around 340 million.

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.