Turkey vs United Kingdom

Turkey is 3.2 times larger than United Kingdom — 783,562 against 243,610 km². Turkey is 1.2 times more populous than United Kingdom — 85,878,556 against 69,487,000 people.

Side by side

Population density

United Kingdom is 2.6 times more densely populated than Turkey — 285 against 110 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 — Turkey on the right, United Kingdom on the left.
• Different currencies: the Turkish lira and the British pound.
• Different continents — Asia and Europe.

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.

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.