If you lived in Samoa instead of Iraq, you would:

Health

be 62.0% more likely to be obese

In Iraq, 39.7% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Samoa, that number is 64.3% of people as of 2024.

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see 43.7% less spent on your healthcare

Iraq spends $843 per person on healthcare as of 2023 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Samoa spends $475 as of 2023.

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have 45.1% fewer doctors per person

Iraq has 10.2 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2022. Samoa has 5.6 as of 2021.

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be 4.0 times more likely to die by suicide

Iraq has a suicide rate of 3.0 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Samoa, it is 12.0 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Economy

be 67.7% less likely to be unemployed

In Iraq, 15.5% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Samoa, that number is 5.0% as of 2025.

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Life

be 17.9% more likely to be literate

In Iraq, the literacy rate is 84.1% as of 2021. In Samoa, it is 99.1% as of 2021.

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be 38.8% less likely to die during infancy

In Iraq, approximately 20.1 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Samoa, on the other hand, 12.3 children do as of 2024.

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be 53.0% more likely to die during childbirth

In Iraq, approximately 66.0 women die from pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births as of 2023. In Samoa, 101.0 women do as of 2023.

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Expenditures

spend 22.6% more on healthcare

Iraq spends 5.5% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2023. In Samoa, that number is 6.8% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 6.9 times more coastline

Iraq has a total of 58 km of coastline. In Samoa, that number is 403 km.

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Safety

be 55.3% less likely to die in a road accident

In Iraq, road accidents kill 21.5 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 95.0% less home broadband

Iraq has 17.6 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2024. Samoa has 0.9 as of 2022.

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Environment

be 60.9% less likely to die from air pollution

In Iraq, air pollution causes 87.0 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2019. In Samoa, it causes 34.0 as of 2019.

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emit 69.1% less CO2

Iraq emits 5.2 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Samoa emits 1.6 tonnes as of 2024.

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Sources: World Bank (2021–2025), United Nations SDG Indicators (2019–2021), The World Factbook (2021), 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 Iraq? See an in-depth size comparison.

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