Quality of life comparison

compared to

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

Health

be 86.7% less likely to be living with HIV/AIDS

In Sierra Leone, 1.5% of people are living with AIDS/HIV as of 2020. In Nicaragua, that number is 0.2% of people as of 2020.

live 16.0 years longer

In Sierra Leone, the average life expectancy is 59 years (57 years for men, 60 years for women) as of 2022. In Nicaragua, that number is 75 years (73 years for men, 77 years for women) as of 2022.

be 2.7 times more likely to be obese

In Sierra Leone, 8.7% of adults are obese as of 2016. In Nicaragua, that number is 23.7% of people as of 2016.

Economy

make 3.6 times more money

Sierra Leone has a GDP per capita of $1,600 as of 2022, while in Nicaragua, the GDP per capita is $5,800 as of 2022.

be 56.2% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Sierra Leone, 56.8% live below the poverty line as of 2018. In Nicaragua, however, that number is 24.9% as of 2016.

be 52.6% more likely to be unemployed

In Sierra Leone, 3.3% of adults are unemployed as of 2022. In Nicaragua, that number is 5.0% as of 2022.

Life

be 82.4% less likely to die during childbirth

In Sierra Leone, approximately 443.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Nicaragua, 78.0 women do as of 2020.

be 70.0% more likely to be literate

In Sierra Leone, the literacy rate is 48.6% as of 2022. In Nicaragua, it is 82.6% as of 2015.

be 74.0% less likely to die during infancy

In Sierra Leone, approximately 73.4 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Nicaragua, on the other hand, 19.1 children do as of 2022.

have 46.8% fewer children

In Sierra Leone, there are approximately 30.8 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Nicaragua, there are 16.4 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Basic Needs

be 3.1 times more likely to have access to electricity

In Sierra Leone, approximately 27% of people have electricity access (57% in urban areas, and 5% in rural areas) as of 2021. In Nicaragua, that number is 86% of people on average (100% in urban areas, and 66% in rural areas) as of 2021.

be 4.5 times more likely to have internet access

In Sierra Leone, approximately 12.7% of the population has internet access as of 2022. In Nicaragua, about 57.0% do as of 2021.

be 14.3% more likely to have access to improved drinking water

In Sierra Leone, approximately 73% of people have improved drinking water access (92% in urban areas, and 58% in rural areas) as of 2020. In Nicaragua, that number is 83% of people on average (98% in urban areas, and 63% in rural areas) as of 2020.

Expenditures

spend 49.5% less on education

Sierra Leone spends 9.1% of its total GDP on education as of 2021. Nicaragua spends 4.6% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

Geography

see 2.3 times more coastline

Sierra Leone has a total of 402 km of coastline. In Nicaragua, that number is 910 km.

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

Nicaragua: At a glance

Nicaragua is a sovereign country in Central America/Caribbean, with a total land area of approximately 119,990 sq km. The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. After losing free and fair elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001, former Sandinista President Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra was elected president in 2006 and reelected in 2011. The 2008 municipal elections, 2010 regional elections, 2011 presidential elections, 2012 municipal elections, and 2013 regional elections were marred by widespread irregularities. Nicaragua's infrastructure and economy - hard hit by the earlier civil war and by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 - are slowly being rebuilt, but democratic institutions have been weakened under the ORTEGA administration.
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How big is Nicaragua compared to Sierra Leone? See an in-depth size comparison.

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