Switzerland vs United Kingdom

United Kingdom is 5.9 times larger than Switzerland — 243,610 against 41,277 km². United Kingdom is 7.6 times more populous than Switzerland — 69,487,000 against 9,092,436 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Kingdom is 1.3 times more densely populated than Switzerland — 285 against 220 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 — Switzerland on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Swiss franc and the British pound.

Switzerland

The most mountainous country in Europe: the Alps cover about sixty percent of it and it has 48 peaks over 4,000 m. The Gotthard Base Tunnel, 57 km long, is the longest and deepest rail tunnel in the world. Switzerland has four official languages and about 1,500 lakes.

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.