Panama vs Spain

Spain is 6.7 times larger than Panama — 505,370 against 75,420 km². Spain is 11 times more populous than Panama — 49,355,143 against 4,571,189 people.

Side by side

Population density

Spain is 1.6 times more densely populated than Panama — 98 against 61 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 Panamanian balboa and the Euro.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — North America and Europe.

Panama

The canal is 82 km long and lifts ships 26 m up to Gatún Lake and back down, using gravity-fed fresh water rather than pumps. Because the isthmus curves, a ship going from the Atlantic to the Pacific travels roughly south-east. The Darién Gap is the only break in the 30,000 km Pan-American Highway.

Spain

After Switzerland, Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe, with an average elevation around 650 m. The Canary Islands sit off Africa, which is why part of Spain is on a different time zone and why Teide, at 3,715 m, is the country's highest point. Spain has more olive trees than any other country, around 340 million.

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.