New Zealand vs Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is 8.0 times larger than New Zealand — 2,149,690 against 268,838 km². Saudi Arabia is 6.9 times more populous than New Zealand — 36,973,555 against 5,324,700 people.

Side by side

Population density

New Zealand is 1.2 times more densely populated than Saudi Arabia — 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, Saudi Arabia on the right.
• Different currencies: the New Zealand dollar and the Saudi riyal.
• New Zealand spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Oceania and Asia.

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.

Saudi Arabia

The Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter, is the largest continuous sand desert in the world at about 650,000 km² — bigger than France. Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers or lakes at all, which is true of only a handful of countries. It holds roughly a sixth of the world's proven oil reserves.

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.