Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Nicaragua instead of Western Sahara, you would:

Health

live 10.3 years longer

In Western Sahara, the average life expectancy is 64 years (62 years for men, 67 years for women) as of 2020. In Nicaragua, that number is 75 years (73 years for men, 77 years for women) as of 2022.

Economy

make 2.9 times more money

Western Sahara has a GDP per capita of $2,500 as of 2007, while in Nicaragua, the GDP per capita is $7,300 as of 2023.

Life

be 60.1% less likely to die during infancy

In Western Sahara, approximately 47.9 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2020. In Nicaragua, on the other hand, 19.1 children do as of 2022.

have 41.4% fewer children

In Western Sahara, there are approximately 28.0 babies per 1,000 people as of 2020. In Nicaragua, there are 16.4 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Geography

see 18.0% less coastline

Western Sahara has a total of 1,110 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 Western Sahara? See an in-depth size comparison.

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