Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Croatia instead of Iceland, you would:

Health

live 6.4 years less

In Iceland, the average life expectancy is 84 years (81 years for men, 86 years for women) as of 2022. In Croatia, that number is 77 years (74 years for men, 81 years for women) as of 2022.

be 11.4% more likely to be obese

In Iceland, 21.9% of adults are obese as of 2016. In Croatia, that number is 24.4% of people as of 2016.

Economy

make 38.3% less money

Iceland has a GDP per capita of $55,600 as of 2022, while in Croatia, the GDP per capita is $34,300 as of 2022.

be 83.6% more likely to be unemployed

In Iceland, 3.8% of adults are unemployed as of 2022. In Croatia, that number is 7.0% as of 2022.

be 2.0 times more likely to live below the poverty line

In Iceland, 8.8% live below the poverty line as of 2017. In Croatia, however, that number is 18.0% as of 2021.

Life

be 66.7% more likely to die during childbirth

In Iceland, approximately 3.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Croatia, 5.0 women do as of 2020.

be 5.3 times more likely to die during infancy

In Iceland, approximately 1.6 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Croatia, on the other hand, 8.7 children do as of 2022.

have 32.5% fewer children

In Iceland, there are approximately 12.6 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Croatia, there are 8.5 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Basic Needs

be 19.0% less likely to have internet access

In Iceland, approximately 100.0% of the population has internet access as of 2021. In Croatia, about 81.0% do as of 2021.

Expenditures

spend 28.6% less on education

Iceland spends 7.7% of its total GDP on education as of 2020. Croatia spends 5.5% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

spend 18.8% less on healthcare

Iceland spends 9.6% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Croatia, that number is 7.8% of GDP as of 2020.

Geography

see 17.4% more coastline

Iceland has a total of 4,970 km of coastline. In Croatia, that number is 5,835 km.

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

Croatia: At a glance

Croatia is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 55,974 sq km. The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands, along with a majority of Croatia's ethnic Serb population. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. The country joined NATO in April 2009 and the EU in July 2013.
Read more

How big is Croatia compared to Iceland? See an in-depth size comparison.

Share this

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Croatia.or Iceland It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.