New Zealand vs Norway

Norway is 1.2 times larger than New Zealand — 323,802 against 268,838 km². Norway is slightly more populous, by 5.4% — 5,610,870 against 5,324,700 people.

Side by side

Population density

New Zealand is 1.1 times more densely populated than Norway — 20 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

• They drive on opposite sides — New Zealand on the left, Norway on the right.
• Different currencies: the New Zealand dollar and the Norwegian krone.
• New Zealand spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Oceania and Europe.

New Zealand

Two main islands and around 600 smaller ones, roughly 1,600 km long. New Zealand broke away from Gondwana about 80 million years ago and had no land mammals except bats until people arrived, which is why so many of its birds are flightless. The Southern Alps run most of the South Island and reach 3,724 m at Aoraki / Mount Cook.

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.