New Zealand vs Thailand

Thailand is 1.9 times larger than New Zealand — 513,120 against 268,838 km². Thailand is 13 times more populous than New Zealand — 71,619,863 against 5,324,700 people.

Side by side

Population density

Thailand is 7.0 times more densely populated than New Zealand — 140 against 20 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

• Different currencies: the New Zealand dollar and the Thai baht.
• 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.

Thailand

Roughly 3,200 km of coastline on two separate seas, the Andaman and the Gulf of Thailand, joined only by the narrow Kra Isthmus. The country's full ceremonial name for Bangkok, Krung Thep Mahanakhon and the rest, is the longest place name in the world at 168 letters in transliteration.

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.