Portugal vs Spain

Spain is 5.5 times larger than Portugal — 505,370 against 92,090 km². Spain is 4.6 times more populous than Portugal — 49,355,143 against 10,804,871 people.

Side by side

Population density

Portugal 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

• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.

Portugal

Mainland Portugal plus the Azores and Madeira, which push its exclusive economic zone to one of the largest in Europe. Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of mainland Europe. Portugal produces around half the world's cork, most of it from the montado oak landscapes of the Alentejo.

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.