Saudi Arabia vs United Kingdom

Saudi Arabia is 8.8 times larger than United Kingdom — 2,149,690 against 243,610 km². United Kingdom is 1.9 times more populous than Saudi Arabia — 69,487,000 against 36,973,555 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Kingdom is 17 times more densely populated than Saudi Arabia — 285 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

• They drive on opposite sides — Saudi Arabia on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Saudi riyal and the British pound.
• Different continents — Asia and Europe.

Saudi Arabia

The Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter, is the largest continuous sand desert in the world at about 650,000 km² — bigger than France. Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers or lakes at all, which is true of only a handful of countries. It holds roughly a sixth of the world's proven oil reserves.

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.