Spain vs Turkey

Turkey is 1.6 times larger than Spain — 783,562 against 505,370 km². Turkey is 1.7 times more populous than Spain — 85,878,556 against 49,355,143 people.

Side by side

Population density

Turkey is 1.1 times more densely populated than Spain — 110 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 Turkish lira.
• 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.

Turkey

Istanbul is the only large city built on two continents, split by the Bosphorus. Cappadocia's fairy chimneys are eroded volcanic tuff, and the underground city at Derinkuyu goes down about 85 m over eighteen levels. Pamukkale's white terraces are travertine deposited by hot calcium-rich springs.

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.