Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Sierra Leone instead of North Korea, you would:

Health

live 13.0 years less

In North Korea, the average life expectancy is 72 years (68 years for men, 76 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.

be 27.9% more likely to be obese

In North Korea, 6.8% of adults are obese as of 2016. In Sierra Leone, that number is 8.7% of people as of 2016.

Life

have 2.3 times more children

In North Korea, there are approximately 13.2 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Sierra Leone, there are 30.8 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

be 4.1 times more likely to die during childbirth

In North Korea, approximately 107.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Sierra Leone, 443.0 women do as of 2020.

be 51.4% less likely to be literate

In North Korea, the literacy rate is 100.0% as of 2015. In Sierra Leone, it is 48.6% as of 2022.

be 3.3 times more likely to die during infancy

In North Korea, approximately 22.2 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.

Basic Needs

be 47.9% less likely to have access to electricity

In North Korea, approximately 53% of people have electricity access (36% in urban areas, and 11% in rural areas) as of 2021. In Sierra Leone, that number is 27% of people on average (57% in urban areas, and 5% in rural areas) as of 2021.

be 23.0% less likely to have access to improved drinking water

In North Korea, approximately 94% of people have improved drinking water access (98% in urban areas, and 89% in rural areas) as of 2020. In Sierra Leone, that number is 73% of people on average (92% in urban areas, and 58% in rural areas) as of 2020.

Geography

see 83.9% less coastline

North Korea has a total of 2,495 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 North Korea? See an in-depth size comparison.

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