Spain vs United Arab Emirates

Spain is 6.0 times larger than United Arab Emirates — 505,370 against 83,600 km². Spain is 4.3 times more populous than United Arab Emirates — 49,355,143 against 11,513,149 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Arab Emirates is 1.4 times more densely populated than Spain — 138 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 United Arab Emirates dirham.
• 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.

United Arab Emirates

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 828 m, the tallest building in the world, and has been since 2010. Most of the country is desert; the Liwa Oasis on the edge of the Empty Quarter carries dunes over 250 m high. Jebel Jais in the Hajar mountains reaches 1,934 m and sees occasional 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.