Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Turkey instead of Iran, you would:

Health

see 66.3% more spent on your healthcare

Iran spends $1,064 per person on healthcare as of 2023 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Turkey spends $1,769 as of 2023.

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have 23.5% more doctors per person

Iran has 18.1 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2023. Turkey has 22.4 as of 2022.

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be 33.9% less likely to die by suicide

Iran has a suicide rate of 4.1 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Turkey, it is 2.7 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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be 17.1% more likely to be obese

In Iran, 24.6% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Turkey, that number is 28.8% of people as of 2024.

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Economy

make 4.7 times more money

Iran has a GDP per capita of $3,924 as of 2025, while in Turkey, the GDP per capita is $18,599 as of 2025.

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Life

be 22.3% less likely to die during infancy

In Iran, approximately 10.3 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Turkey, on the other hand, 8.0 children do as of 2024.

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have 12.5% fewer children

In Iran, there are approximately 12.6 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Turkey, there are 11.0 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

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Expenditures

spend 29.0% less on healthcare

Iran spends 6.0% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2023. In Turkey, that number is 4.3% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 3.0 times more coastline

Iran has a total of 2,440 km of coastline. In Turkey, that number is 7,200 km.

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Safety

be 68.4% less likely to die in a road accident

In Iran, road accidents kill 20.6 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Turkey, they kill 6.5 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

find 94.3% more home broadband

Iran has 12.1 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2024. Turkey has 23.4 as of 2024.

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live with 41.1% less strain on fresh water

Iran withdraws 81% of its available fresh water each year as of 2022. Turkey withdraws 48% as of 2022.

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Environment

be 23.5% less likely to die from air pollution

In Iran, air pollution causes 51.0 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2019. In Turkey, it causes 39.0 as of 2019.

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emit 40.6% less CO2

Iran emits 9.1 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Turkey emits 5.4 tonnes as of 2024.

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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

Compare further: Iran vs. Turkey

Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
Turkey is 2.0 times more expensive than Iran overall
→
Size Comparison · See true size
Iran is about 2.1 times bigger than Turkey.
→
Moving from Iran to Turkey · OECD 2023
14,495 people moved from Iran to Turkey.
→
City Size Comparison · See true size
Compare the size of Tehran vs Istanbul
→

Turkey: At a glance

Turkey is a sovereign country in Middle East, with a total land area of approximately 769,632 sq km. Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk or "Father of the Turks." Under his leadership, the country adopted wide-ranging social, legal, and political reforms. After a period of one-party rule, an experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkish political parties have multiplied, but democracy has been fractured by periods of instability and intermittent military coups (1960, 1971, 1980), which in each case eventually resulted in a return of political power to civilians. In 1997, the military again helped engineer the ouster - popularly dubbed a "post-modern coup" - of the then Islamic-oriented government. Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which only Turkey recognizes. A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - now known as the Kurdistan People's Congress or Kongra-Gel (KGK) - has dominated the Turkish military's attention and claimed more than 30,000 lives. After the capture of the group's leader in 1999, the insurgents largely withdrew from Turkey mainly to northern Iraq. In 2013, KGK and the Turkish Government agreed to a ceasefire that continues despite slow progress in ongoing peace talks. Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1964, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community. Over the past decade, it has undertaken many reforms to strengthen its democracy and economy; it began accession membership talks with the European Union in 2005.
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