Spain vs Taiwan

Spain is 14 times larger than Taiwan — 505,370 against 35,980 km². Spain is 2.1 times more populous than Taiwan — 49,355,143 against 23,600,776 people.

Side by side

Population density

Taiwan is 6.7 times more densely populated than Spain — 656 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 Euro and the New Taiwan dollar.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Europe and Asia.

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.

Taiwan

A mountainous island: 268 peaks rise above 3,000 m in an area smaller than Switzerland, and Yushan reaches 3,952 m. Taroko Gorge is cut about 19 km through marble. The island sits on the Ring of Fire and the Tropic of Cancer crosses it, so the south is tropical and the high interior gets snow.

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.