Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Barbados instead of Cook Islands, you would:

Health

be 45.5% less likely to be obese

In Cook Islands, 72.4% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Barbados, that number is 39.4% of people as of 2024.

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have 2.2 times more doctors per person

Cook Islands has 13.4 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2019. Barbados has 29.6 as of 2022.

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have 67.4% more access to essential health services

Cook Islands scores 46 out of 100 on the universal health coverage index as of 2021. Barbados scores 77 as of 2021.

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live 0.8 years less

In Cook Islands, the average life expectancy is 77 years (74 years for men, 80 years for women) as of 2022. In Barbados, that number is 76 years (74 years for men, 79 years for women) as of 2024.

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Life

be 42.9% less likely to die during infancy

In Cook Islands, approximately 15.9 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Barbados, on the other hand, 9.1 children do as of 2024.

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Expenditures

spend 22.6% less on education

Cook Islands spends 4.6% of its total GDP on education as of 2021. Barbados spends 3.6% of total GDP on education as of 2024.

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spend 68.8% more on healthcare

Cook Islands spends 3.2% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Barbados, that number is 5.4% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 19.2% less coastline

Cook Islands has a total of 120 km of coastline. In Barbados, that number is 97 km.

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Safety

be 43.2% less likely to die in a road accident

In Cook Islands, road accidents kill 17.6 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Barbados, they kill 10.0 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

find 2.1 times more home broadband

Cook Islands has 18.2 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2022. Barbados has 37.5 as of 2022.

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

Compare further: Cook Islands vs. Barbados

Cost of Living Comparison · 5 categories - 2026 data
Barbados is 54.5% more expensive than Cook Islands overall
→
Size Comparison · See true size
Cook Islands is about 1.8 times smaller than Barbados.
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Moving from Cook Islands to Barbados · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
→

Barbados: At a glance

Barbados is a sovereign country in Central America/Caribbean, with a total land area of approximately 430 sq km. The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. African slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.
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How big is Barbados compared to Cook Islands? See an in-depth size comparison.

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