New Zealand vs United Kingdom

New Zealand is 1.1 times larger than United Kingdom — 268,838 against 243,610 km². United Kingdom is 13 times more populous than New Zealand — 69,487,000 against 5,324,700 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Kingdom is 14 times more densely populated than New Zealand — 285 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 British pound.
• 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.

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.