If you lived in Sierra Leone instead of Eritrea, you would:

Health

see 83.6% more spent on your healthcare

Eritrea spends $87 per person on healthcare as of 2023 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Sierra Leone spends $159 as of 2023.

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have 52.3% more doctors per person

Eritrea has 0.9 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2022. Sierra Leone has 1.3 as of 2022.

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be 53.6% less likely to die by suicide

Eritrea has a suicide rate of 13.2 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Sierra Leone, it is 6.1 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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be 3.5 times more likely to be living with HIV/AIDS

In Eritrea, 0.4% of people are living with AIDS/HIV as of 2024. In Sierra Leone, that number is 1.4% of people as of 2024.

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live 6.9 years less

In Eritrea, the average life expectancy is 69 years (67 years for men, 71 years for women) as of 2024. In Sierra Leone, that number is 62 years (60 years for men, 64 years for women) as of 2024.

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be 89.1% more likely to be obese

In Eritrea, 4.3% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Sierra Leone, that number is 8.2% of people as of 2024.

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Economy

be 47.3% less likely to be unemployed

In Eritrea, 6.0% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Sierra Leone, that number is 3.1% as of 2025.

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Life

be 21.6% more likely to die during childbirth

In Eritrea, approximately 291.0 women die from pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births as of 2023. In Sierra Leone, 354.0 women do as of 2023.

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be 2.2 times more likely to die during infancy

In Eritrea, approximately 24.7 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Sierra Leone, on the other hand, 54.6 children do as of 2024.

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Basic Needs

be 34.7% less likely to have access to electricity

In Eritrea, approximately 54% of people have electricity access (77% in urban areas, and 37% in rural areas) as of 2023. In Sierra Leone, that number is 36% of people on average (56% in urban areas, and 19% in rural areas) as of 2023.

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Expenditures

spend 28.3% more on healthcare

Eritrea spends 3.7% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2023. In Sierra Leone, that number is 4.7% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 82.0% less coastline

Eritrea has a total of 2,234 km of coastline. In Sierra Leone, that number is 402 km.

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Safety

be 22.0% less likely to die in a road accident

In Eritrea, road accidents kill 17.7 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Sierra Leone, they kill 13.8 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

live with 95.5% less strain on fresh water

Eritrea withdraws 11% of its available fresh water each year as of 2022. Sierra Leone withdraws 0% as of 2022.

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Environment

emit 22.7% less CO2

Eritrea emits 0.2 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Sierra Leone emits 0.2 tonnes as of 2024.

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be 24.4% more likely to die from air pollution

In Eritrea, air pollution causes 78.0 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2019. In Sierra Leone, it causes 97.0 as of 2019.

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Sources: World Bank (2021–2025), United Nations SDG Indicators (2019–2021), World Health Organization (2024), The World Factbook. How we calculate this

Sierra Leone: At a glance

Sierra Leone is a sovereign country in Africa, with a total land area of approximately 71,620 sq km. Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about a third of the population). The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country's stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 and 2012 national elections, and over the past year have deployed over 850 peacekeepers in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). As of January 2014, Sierra Leone also fielded 122 staff for five UN peacekeeping missions. In March 2014, the closure of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) marked the end of more than 15 years of peacekeeping and political operations in Sierra Leone. The government's priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.
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How big is Sierra Leone compared to Eritrea? See an in-depth size comparison.

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