If you lived in Eritrea instead of India, you would:

Health

be 45.9% less likely to be obese

In India, 8.0% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Eritrea, that number is 4.3% of people as of 2024.

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live 3.3 years less

In India, the average life expectancy is 72 years (71 years for men, 74 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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see 75.0% less spent on your healthcare

India spends $346 per person on healthcare as of 2023 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Eritrea spends $87 as of 2023.

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have 87.8% fewer doctors per person

India has 7.2 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2020. Eritrea has 0.9 as of 2022.

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have 28.6% less access to essential health services

India scores 63 out of 100 on the universal health coverage index as of 2021. Eritrea scores 45 as of 2021.

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Economy

be 41.7% more likely to be unemployed

In India, 4.2% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Eritrea, that number is 6.0% as of 2025.

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Life

have 79.7% more children

In India, there are approximately 16.0 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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be 3.6 times more likely to die during childbirth

In India, approximately 80.0 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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Basic Needs

be 45.3% less likely to have access to electricity

In India, approximately 100% of people have electricity access (100% in urban areas, and 99% 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 62.0% less likely to have internet access

In India, approximately 70.0% of the population has internet access as of 2025. In Eritrea, about 26.6% do as of 2022.

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Expenditures

spend 10.2% more on healthcare

India spends 3.3% 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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Geography

see 68.1% less coastline

India has a total of 7,000 km of coastline. In Eritrea, that number is 2,234 km.

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Safety

be 14.9% more likely to die in a road accident

In India, road accidents kill 15.4 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Eritrea, they kill 17.7 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

live with 83.2% less strain on fresh water

India withdraws 66% of its available fresh water each year as of 2022. Eritrea withdraws 11% as of 2022.

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find 94.6% less home broadband

India has 3.1 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2024. Eritrea has 0.2 as of 2022.

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use 89.6% less electricity

India uses 1,182 kWh of electricity per person each year as of 2023. Eritrea uses 123 kWh as of 2023.

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Environment

emit 89.9% less CO2

India emits 2.2 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 (2020–2025), United Nations SDG Indicators (2021–2022), World Health Organization (2024), The World Factbook. 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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