About
Numbers you can feel.
CountryDuel compares countries with pictures that fit each statistic: outlines at true scale for area, people lined up for height, a lifetime of years for life expectancy, a cube of gas for CO₂. The goal is curiosity, not league tables.
Our rules
- Every number is cited, with its source, dataset and reference year. When two countries’ figures come from different years, we show both years.
- Comparable data only. Each comparison uses one dataset for both countries. We never mix sources within a single metric.
- No invented winners. We don’t add metrics up into a “best country” score or declare a winner of a duel. “World twins” is a published similarity measure, not a ranking.
- Honest pictures. Areas are drawn with equal-area projections. Areas, heights and lengths are to scale. Where we simplify (for example, 1 figure = 1 million people), the legend says so.
Privacy
Analytical cookies only
The site sets analytical cookies only (_ga and _ga_…, from Google Analytics, kept for up to 13 months) and
uses no advertising networks or tracking cookies. Your theme, your chosen country and your saved and recent duels live only in your own browser’s storage and never leave it.
Visitor statistics
We use Google Analytics to see how many people visit and which comparisons they open or share. It recognises a returning browser by a random number in a cookie; it does not know who you are. It is set up as sparingly as it allows: no advertising features, no link to Google accounts (Google signals is off), no ad personalisation, and no IP addresses are stored. You can block or delete these cookies at any time; the site works the same without them.
Your country
We try to guess your country so the site can start with comparisons that matter to you. First we check your browser’s time zone, which never leaves your device. If configured, our own server also looks up your IP address in a local database (IP Geolocation by DB-IP). It returns only a country code, and your IP is never logged or stored.