Quality of life comparison

compared to

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

Health

be 51.8% less likely to be obese

In Cook Islands, 72.4% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Nicaragua, that number is 34.9% of people as of 2024.

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have 52.2% more access to essential health services

Cook Islands scores 46 out of 100 on the universal health coverage index as of 2021. Nicaragua scores 70 as of 2021.

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live 2.0 years less

In Cook Islands, the average life expectancy is 77 years (74 years for men, 80 years for women) as of 2022. In Nicaragua, that number is 75 years (72 years for men, 78 years for women) as of 2024.

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have 49.3% fewer doctors per person

Cook Islands has 13.4 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2019. Nicaragua has 6.8 as of 2018.

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Life

be 41.0% 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 Nicaragua, on the other hand, 9.4 children do as of 2024.

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have 58.2% more children

In Cook Islands, there are approximately 12.1 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Nicaragua, there are 19.1 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

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Basic Needs

be 16.8% less likely to have access to drinking water

In Cook Islands, approximately 100% of people have access to drinking water as of 2020. In Nicaragua, 83% of people do as of 2020.

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Expenditures

spend 37.6% less on education

Cook Islands spends 4.6% of its total GDP on education as of 2021. Nicaragua spends 2.9% of total GDP on education as of 2023.

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spend 2.6 times more on healthcare

Cook Islands spends 3.2% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Nicaragua, that number is 8.3% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 7.6 times more coastline

Cook Islands has a total of 120 km of coastline. In Nicaragua, that number is 910 km.

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Safety

be 22.7% less likely to die in a road accident

In Cook Islands, road accidents kill 17.6 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Nicaragua, they kill 13.6 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

find 68.3% less home broadband

Cook Islands has 18.2 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2022. Nicaragua has 5.8 as of 2024.

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

Compare further: Cook Islands vs. Nicaragua

Cost of Living Comparison · 5 categories - 2026 data
Nicaragua is 34.0% cheaper than Cook Islands overall
→
Size Comparison · See true size
Cook Islands is about 552 times smaller than Nicaragua.
→
Moving from Cook Islands to Nicaragua · Cost, visas & climate
Compare cost of living, salary and climate.
→

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 Cook Islands? See an in-depth size comparison.

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