How to set up COUNTIF or COUNTIFS formula in Google Sheets to compare columns?

I am trying to compare the numerical data in two columns in Google Sheets (say, Col. A and B) and return a count of all of the times that they vary by say, more than 1 (e.g., if A3 = 5 and B3 = 2, this should get counted). The two-column arrays will always be of equal size.

At first, I thought that either COUNTIF or COUNTIFS would be my go-to tool, but I can't get this to work with either formula. These formulas seem to handle criteria within a cell, but - as far as I can tell - can't handle criteria comparing data within two different (adjacent) cells.

Can someone help me with some super syntax work-around to get COUNTIF/COUNTIFS to work... or is there a more appropriate formula to the job (perhaps involving FILTER)?

*Quick Edit: I know I could always add an additional column, which would be very simple in this example. But my real-world spreadsheets are a lot more complex and are already suffering from column overload. A lot of other formulas are already set up around existing columns, and I was hoping to discover a more elegant solution that would allow me to come up with the count without having to add a new column for each and every comparison calculation.