Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Mauritania instead of Djibouti, you would:

Economy

be 60.0% less likely to be unemployed

In Djibouti, 26.3% of adults are unemployed as of 2023. In Mauritania, that number is 10.5% as of 2023.

be 50.7% more likely to live below the poverty line

In Djibouti, 21.1% live below the poverty line as of 2017. In Mauritania, however, that number is 31.8% as of 2019.

Life

have 24.8% more children

In Djibouti, there are approximately 21.8 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Mauritania, there are 27.2 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

be 98.7% more likely to die during childbirth

In Djibouti, approximately 234.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Mauritania, 465.0 women do as of 2020.

Basic Needs

be 24.6% less likely to have access to electricity

In Djibouti, approximately 65% of people have electricity access (54% in urban areas, and 36% in rural areas) as of 2022. In Mauritania, that number is 49% of people on average (90% in urban areas, and 1% in rural areas) as of 2022.

be 14.5% less likely to have internet access

In Djibouti, approximately 69.0% of the population has internet access as of 2021. In Mauritania, about 59.0% do as of 2021.

Expenditures

spend 47.2% less on education

Djibouti spends 3.6% of its total GDP on education as of 2018. Mauritania spends 1.9% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

spend 70.0% more on healthcare

Djibouti spends 2.0% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Mauritania, that number is 3.4% of GDP as of 2020.

Geography

see 2.4 times more coastline

Djibouti has a total of 314 km of coastline. In Mauritania, that number is 754 km.

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

Mauritania: At a glance

Mauritania is a sovereign country in Africa, with a total land area of approximately 1,030,700 sq km. Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976 but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed TAYA seized power in a coup in 1984 and ruled Mauritania with a heavy hand for more than two decades. A series of presidential elections that he held were widely seen as flawed. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed President TAYA and ushered in a military council that oversaw a transition to democratic rule. Independent candidate Sidi Ould Cheikh ABDALLAHI was inaugurated in April 2007 as Mauritania's first freely and fairly elected president. His term ended prematurely in August 2008 when a military junta led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel AZIZ deposed him and installed a military council government. AZIZ was subsequently elected president in July 2009 and sworn in the following month. AZIZ sustained injuries from an accidental shooting by his own troops in October 2012 but has continued to maintain his authority. The country continues to experience ethnic tensions among its black population (Afro-Mauritanians) and white and black Moor (Arab-Berber) communities, and confronts a terrorism threat by al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
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How big is Mauritania compared to Djibouti? See an in-depth size comparison.

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