Netherlands vs United Kingdom

United Kingdom is 5.9 times larger than Netherlands — 243,610 against 41,543 km². United Kingdom is 3.8 times more populous than Netherlands — 69,487,000 against 18,087,633 people.

Side by side

Population density

Netherlands is 1.5 times more densely populated than United Kingdom — 435 against 285 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 — Netherlands on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Euro and the British pound.

Netherlands

About a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level and roughly a fifth of its present land area has been reclaimed from sea, lake and marsh. Flevoland, a province of some 1,400 km², was drained from the Zuiderzee in the 20th century and is the largest artificial island in the world. The lowest point, in Zuidplaspolder, is about 6.8 m below sea level.

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.