Poland vs Spain

Spain is 1.6 times larger than Poland — 505,370 against 312,685 km². Spain is 1.4 times more populous than Poland — 49,355,143 against 36,435,861 people.

Side by side

Population density

Poland is 1.2 times more densely populated than Spain — 117 against 98 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 Polish złoty and the Euro.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.

Poland

The Wieliczka salt mine near Kraków has been worked since the 13th century and holds chapels, chandeliers and statues carved entirely from rock salt, about 300 m down. Białowieża on the Belarusian border is the last large fragment of the primeval forest that once covered the European plain.

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.