Norway vs South Korea

Norway is 3.2 times larger than South Korea — 323,802 against 99,720 km². South Korea is 9.2 times more populous than Norway — 51,684,564 against 5,610,870 people.

Side by side

Population density

South Korea is 30 times more densely populated than Norway — 518 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

• Different currencies: the Norwegian krone and the South Korean won.
• Different continents — Europe and Asia.

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.

South Korea

About seventy percent mountain, so the population is packed into the valleys and coastal plains; the Seoul metropolitan area holds roughly half the country. Jeju Island is a shield volcano whose lava tube system is among the finest in the world. South Korea has the fastest average internet connections of any large country.

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.