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

Health

be 11.2% less likely to be obese

In Cook Islands, 72.4% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Samoa, that number is 64.3% of people as of 2024.

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have 19.6% more access to essential health services

Cook Islands scores 46 out of 100 on the universal health coverage index as of 2021. Samoa scores 55 as of 2021.

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live 5.3 years less

In Cook Islands, the average life expectancy is 77 years (74 years for men, 80 years for women) as of 2022. In Samoa, that number is 72 years (70 years for men, 74 years for women) as of 2024.

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have 58.3% fewer doctors per person

Cook Islands has 13.4 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2019. Samoa has 5.6 as of 2021.

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Life

be 22.8% 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 Samoa, on the other hand, 12.3 children do as of 2024.

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have 2.1 times more children

In Cook Islands, there are approximately 12.1 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Samoa, there are 25.0 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

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Basic Needs

be 16.2% more likely to have internet access

In Cook Islands, approximately 64.8% of the population has internet access as of 2021. In Samoa, about 75.3% do as of 2022.

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Expenditures

spend 18.7% more on education

Cook Islands spends 4.6% of its total GDP on education as of 2021. Samoa spends 5.5% of total GDP on education as of 2024.

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spend 2.1 times more on healthcare

Cook Islands spends 3.2% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2020. In Samoa, that number is 6.8% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 3.4 times more coastline

Cook Islands has a total of 120 km of coastline. In Samoa, that number is 403 km.

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Safety

be 45.5% less likely to die in a road accident

In Cook Islands, road accidents kill 17.6 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Samoa, they kill 9.6 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

find 95.2% less home broadband

Cook Islands has 18.2 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2022. Samoa has 0.9 as of 2022.

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

Samoa: At a glance

Samoa is a sovereign country in Australia-Oceania, with a total land area of approximately 2,821 sq km. New Zealand occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It continued to administer the islands as a mandate and then as a trust territory until 1962, when the islands became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish independence in the 20th century. The country dropped the "Western" from its name in 1997.
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How big is Samoa compared to Cook Islands? See an in-depth size comparison.

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