Quality of life comparison
If you lived in Cook Islands instead of Palau, you would:
Health
live 7.8 years longer
In Palau, the average life expectancy is 69 years (67 years for men, 72 years for women) as of 2024. In Cook Islands, that number is 77 years (74 years for men, 80 years for women) as of 2022.
be 78.6% more likely to be obese
In Palau, 40.5% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Cook Islands, that number is 72.4% of people as of 2024.
have 29.2% less access to essential health services
Palau scores 65 out of 100 on the universal health coverage index as of 2021. Cook Islands scores 46 as of 2021.
Life
be 14.4% less likely to die during infancy
In Palau, approximately 18.6 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Cook Islands, on the other hand, 15.9 children do as of 2022.
have 13.2% more children
In Palau, there are approximately 10.7 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Cook Islands, there are 12.1 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.
Basic Needs
be 22.8% less likely to have internet access
In Palau, approximately 83.9% of the population has internet access as of 2024. In Cook Islands, about 64.8% do as of 2021.
Expenditures
spend 70.5% less on healthcare
Palau spends 10.8% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2023. In Cook Islands, that number is 3.2% of GDP as of 2020.
spend 33.7% more on education
Palau spends 3.4% of its total GDP on education as of 2023. Cook Islands spends 4.6% of total GDP on education as of 2021.
Geography
see 92.1% less coastline
Palau has a total of 1,519 km of coastline. In Cook Islands, that number is 120 km.
Safety
be 20.7% less likely to die in a road accident
In Palau, road accidents kill 22.2 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Cook Islands, they kill 17.6 per 100,000 as of 2021.
Infrastructure
find 2.5 times more home broadband
Palau has 7.3 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2023. Cook Islands has 18.2 as of 2022.
Sources: The World Factbook (2020–2024), World Bank (2023–2024), United Nations SDG Indicators (2021–2022), World Health Organization (2024). How we calculate this
Compare further: Palau vs. Cook Islands
Cook Islands: At a glance
How big is Cook Islands compared to Palau? See an in-depth size comparison.