Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Sierra Leone instead of Benin, you would:

Health

be 66.7% more likely to be living with HIV/AIDS

In Benin, 0.9% of people are living with AIDS/HIV as of 2020. In Sierra Leone, that number is 1.5% of people as of 2020.

live 3.5 years less

In Benin, the average life expectancy is 62 years (60 years for men, 64 years for women) as of 2022. In Sierra Leone, that number is 59 years (57 years for men, 60 years for women) as of 2022.

Economy

make 55.3% less money

Benin has a GDP per capita of $3,800 as of 2023, while in Sierra Leone, the GDP per capita is $1,700 as of 2023.

be 2.2 times more likely to be unemployed

In Benin, 1.4% of adults are unemployed as of 2023. In Sierra Leone, that number is 3.2% as of 2023.

be 47.5% more likely to live below the poverty line

In Benin, 38.5% live below the poverty line as of 2019. In Sierra Leone, however, that number is 56.8% as of 2018.

Life

be 15.3% less likely to die during childbirth

In Benin, approximately 523.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Sierra Leone, 443.0 women do as of 2020.

be 31.7% more likely to die during infancy

In Benin, approximately 55.8 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Sierra Leone, on the other hand, 73.4 children do as of 2022.

have 23.6% fewer children

In Benin, there are approximately 40.3 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Sierra Leone, there are 30.8 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Basic Needs

be 48.0% less likely to have access to electricity

In Benin, approximately 56% of people have electricity access (67% in urban areas, and 18% in rural areas) as of 2022. In Sierra Leone, that number is 29% of people on average (57% in urban areas, and 5% in rural areas) as of 2022.

be 62.6% less likely to have internet access

In Benin, approximately 34.0% of the population has internet access as of 2021. In Sierra Leone, about 12.7% do as of 2022.

Expenditures

spend 3.0 times more on education

Benin spends 3.0% of its total GDP on education as of 2020. Sierra Leone spends 9.1% of total GDP on education as of 2021.

spend 3.4 times more on healthcare

Benin spends 2.6% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Sierra Leone, that number is 8.8% of GDP as of 2020.

Geography

see 3.3 times more coastline

Benin has a total of 121 km of coastline. In Sierra Leone, that number is 402 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook.

Sierra Leone: At a glance

Sierra Leone is a sovereign country in Africa, with a total land area of approximately 71,620 sq km. Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about a third of the population). The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country's stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 and 2012 national elections, and over the past year have deployed over 850 peacekeepers in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). As of January 2014, Sierra Leone also fielded 122 staff for five UN peacekeeping missions. In March 2014, the closure of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) marked the end of more than 15 years of peacekeeping and political operations in Sierra Leone. The government's priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.
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How big is Sierra Leone compared to Benin? See an in-depth size comparison.

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