Spain vs United Kingdom

Spain is 2.1 times larger than United Kingdom — 505,370 against 243,610 km². United Kingdom is 1.4 times more populous than Spain — 69,487,000 against 49,355,143 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Kingdom is 2.9 times more densely populated than Spain — 285 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

• They drive on opposite sides — Spain on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Euro and the British pound.
• Spain spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.

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 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.