If you lived in Turkey instead of Puerto Rico, you would:

Health

be 32.1% less likely to be obese

In Puerto Rico, 42.4% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Turkey, that number is 28.8% of people as of 2024.

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be 50.4% less likely to die by suicide

Puerto Rico has a suicide rate of 5.4 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Turkey, it is 2.7 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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live 4.5 years less

In Puerto Rico, the average life expectancy is 82 years (78 years for men, 85 years for women) as of 2024. In Turkey, that number is 77 years (75 years for men, 80 years for women) as of 2024.

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Economy

be 42.2% more likely to be unemployed

In Puerto Rico, 6.0% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Turkey, that number is 8.5% as of 2025.

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make 54.2% less money

Puerto Rico has a GDP per capita of $40,620 as of 2025, while in Turkey, the GDP per capita is $18,599 as of 2025.

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Life

have 93.0% more children

In Puerto Rico, there are approximately 5.7 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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be 36.4% more likely to die during childbirth

In Puerto Rico, approximately 11.0 women die from pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births as of 2023. In Turkey, 15.0 women do as of 2023.

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be 32.5% more likely to die during infancy

In Puerto Rico, approximately 6.0 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Turkey, on the other hand, 8.0 children do as of 2024.

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Expenditures

spend 27.4% less on education

Puerto Rico spends 4.3% of its total GDP on education as of 2024. Turkey spends 3.1% of total GDP on education as of 2022.

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Geography

see 14.4 times more coastline

Puerto Rico has a total of 501 km of coastline. In Turkey, that number is 7,200 km.

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Safety

be 77.9% less likely to be murdered

Puerto Rico has a homicide rate of 14.6 per 100,000 people as of 2023. In Turkey, that number is 3.2 per 100,000 as of 2023.

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be 48.0% less likely to die in a road accident

In Puerto Rico, road accidents kill 12.5 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 16.3% less home broadband

Puerto Rico has 28.0 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2024. Turkey has 23.4 as of 2024.

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live with 2.5 times more strain on fresh water

Puerto Rico withdraws 20% of its available fresh water each year as of 2022. Turkey withdraws 48% as of 2022.

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Environment

emit 11.6% more CO2

Puerto Rico emits 4.8 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), The World Factbook (2022), World Health Organization (2024), United Nations SDG Indicators (2021). How we calculate this

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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