If you lived in Eritrea instead of Central African Republic, you would:

Health

be 83.3% less likely to be living with HIV/AIDS

In Central African Republic, 2.4% of people are living with AIDS/HIV as of 2024. In Eritrea, that number is 0.4% of people as of 2024.

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live 11.2 years longer

In Central African Republic, the average life expectancy is 58 years (56 years for men, 60 years for women) as of 2024. In Eritrea, that number is 69 years (67 years for men, 71 years for women) as of 2024.

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be 60.4% less likely to be obese

In Central African Republic, 10.9% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Eritrea, that number is 4.3% of people as of 2024.

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have 18.9% more doctors per person

Central African Republic has 0.7 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2023. Eritrea has 0.9 as of 2022.

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have 40.6% more access to essential health services

Central African Republic scores 32 out of 100 on the universal health coverage index as of 2021. Eritrea scores 45 as of 2021.

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see 36.7% less spent on your healthcare

Central African Republic spends $137 per person on healthcare as of 2023 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Eritrea spends $87 as of 2023.

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be 44.0% more likely to die by suicide

Central African Republic has a suicide rate of 9.2 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Eritrea, it is 13.2 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Life

be 57.9% less likely to die during childbirth

In Central African Republic, approximately 692.0 women die from pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births as of 2023. In Eritrea, 291.0 women do as of 2023.

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be 2.0 times more likely to be literate

In Central African Republic, the literacy rate is 37.5% as of 2020. In Eritrea, it is 76.6% as of 2018.

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be 58.0% less likely to die during infancy

In Central African Republic, approximately 58.8 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Eritrea, on the other hand, 24.7 children do as of 2024.

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have 37.8% fewer children

In Central African Republic, there are approximately 46.2 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Eritrea, there are 28.7 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

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Basic Needs

be 3.1 times more likely to have access to electricity

In Central African Republic, approximately 18% of people have electricity access (37% in urban areas, and 2% in rural areas) as of 2023. In Eritrea, that number is 54% of people on average (77% in urban areas, and 37% in rural areas) as of 2023.

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be 93.0% more likely to have internet access

In Central African Republic, approximately 13.8% of the population has internet access as of 2024. In Eritrea, about 26.6% do as of 2022.

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Expenditures

spend 65.5% less on healthcare

Central African Republic spends 10.7% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2023. In Eritrea, that number is 3.7% of GDP as of 2023.

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Safety

be 31.7% less likely to die in a road accident

In Central African Republic, road accidents kill 25.9 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Eritrea, they kill 17.7 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

find 8.5 times more home broadband

Central African Republic has 0.0 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2022. Eritrea has 0.2 as of 2022.

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live with 32.9 times more strain on fresh water

Central African Republic withdraws 0% of its available fresh water each year as of 2022. Eritrea withdraws 11% as of 2022.

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Environment

be 20.4% less likely to die from air pollution

In Central African Republic, air pollution causes 98.0 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2019. In Eritrea, it causes 78.0 as of 2019.

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emit 3.7 times more CO2

Central African Republic emits 0.1 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Eritrea emits 0.2 tonnes as of 2024.

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Sources: World Bank (2021–2024), United Nations SDG Indicators (2019–2022), World Health Organization (2024), The World Factbook (2018–2020). How we calculate this

Eritrea: At a glance

Eritrea is a sovereign country in Africa, with a total land area of approximately 101,000 sq km. After independence from Italian colonial control in 1941 and 10 years of British administrative control, the UN established Eritrea as an autonomous region within the Ethiopian federation in 1952. Ethiopia's full annexation of Eritrea as a province 10 years later sparked a violent 30-year struggle for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean rebels defeating government forces. Eritreans overwhelmingly approved independence in a 1993 referendum. ISAIAS Afworki has been Eritrea's only president since independence; his rule, particularly since 2001, has been highly autocratic and repressive. His government has created a highly militarized society by pursuing an unpopular program of mandatory conscription into national service, sometimes of indefinite length. A two-and-a-half-year border war with Ethiopia that erupted in 1998 ended under UN auspices in December 2000. A UN peacekeeping operation was established that monitored a 25 km-wide Temporary Security Zone. The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) created in April 2003 was tasked "to delimit and demarcate the colonial treaty border based on pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902, and 1908) and applicable international law." The EEBC on 30 November 2007 remotely demarcated the border, assigning the town of Badme to Eritrea, despite Ethiopia's maintaining forces there from the time of the 1998-2000 war. Eritrea insisted that the UN terminate its peacekeeping mission on 31 July 2008. Eritrea has accepted the EEBC's "virtual demarcation" decision and repeatedly called on Ethiopia to remove its troops. Ethiopia has not accepted the demarcation decision, and neither party has entered into meaningful dialogue to resolve the impasse. Eritrea is subject to several UN Security Council Resolutions (from 2009, 2011, and 2012) imposing various military and economic sanctions, in view of evidence that it has supported armed opposition groups in the region.
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