If you lived in Dominican Republic instead of Saudi Arabia, you would:

Health

be 23.3% less likely to be obese

In Saudi Arabia, 40.1% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Dominican Republic, that number is 30.8% of people as of 2024.

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live 5.1 years less

In Saudi Arabia, the average life expectancy is 79 years (77 years for men, 81 years for women) as of 2024. In Dominican Republic, that number is 74 years (71 years for men, 77 years for women) as of 2024.

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see 66.4% less spent on your healthcare

Saudi Arabia spends $3,475 per person on healthcare as of 2023 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Dominican Republic spends $1,169 as of 2023.

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have 28.8% fewer doctors per person

Saudi Arabia has 34.1 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2023. Dominican Republic has 24.3 as of 2023.

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be 4.4 times more likely to die by suicide

Saudi Arabia has a suicide rate of 0.9 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Dominican Republic, it is 4.2 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Economy

be 67.4% more likely to be unemployed

In Saudi Arabia, 3.0% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Dominican Republic, that number is 5.1% as of 2025.

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make 68.0% less money

Saudi Arabia has a GDP per capita of $34,537 as of 2025, while in Dominican Republic, the GDP per capita is $11,059 as of 2025.

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Life

be 17.7 times more likely to die during childbirth

In Saudi Arabia, approximately 7.0 women die from pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births as of 2023. In Dominican Republic, 124.0 women do as of 2023.

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be 5.9 times more likely to die during infancy

In Saudi Arabia, approximately 4.7 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Dominican Republic, on the other hand, 27.7 children do as of 2024.

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Expenditures

spend 16.1% less on education

Saudi Arabia spends 4.5% of its total GDP on education as of 2023. Dominican Republic spends 3.8% of total GDP on education as of 2023.

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spend 19.2% less on healthcare

Saudi Arabia spends 5.7% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2023. In Dominican Republic, that number is 4.6% of GDP as of 2023.

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Geography

see 51.2% less coastline

Saudi Arabia has a total of 2,640 km of coastline. In Dominican Republic, that number is 1,288 km.

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Safety

be 48.1% more likely to die in a road accident

In Saudi Arabia, road accidents kill 18.5 people per 100,000 as of 2021. In Dominican Republic, they kill 27.4 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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Infrastructure

live with 95.9% less strain on fresh water

Saudi Arabia withdraws 974% of its available fresh water each year as of 2022. Dominican Republic withdraws 40% as of 2022.

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find 74.6% less home broadband

Saudi Arabia has 44.1 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2024. Dominican Republic has 11.2 as of 2024.

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use 84.3% less electricity

Saudi Arabia uses 11,911 kWh of electricity per person each year as of 2023. Dominican Republic uses 1,867 kWh as of 2023.

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Environment

be 70.3% less likely to die from air pollution

In Saudi Arabia, air pollution causes 91.0 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2019. In Dominican Republic, it causes 27.0 as of 2019.

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emit 83.8% less CO2

Saudi Arabia emits 18.5 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Dominican Republic emits 3.0 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

Dominican Republic: At a glance

Dominican Republic is a sovereign country in Central America/Caribbean, with a total land area of approximately 48,320 sq km. The Taino - indigenous inhabitants of Hispaniola prior to the arrival of the Europeans - divided the island into five chiefdoms and territories. Christopher COLUMBUS explored and claimed the island on his first voyage in 1492; it became a springboard for Spanish conquest of the Caribbean and the American mainland. In 1697, Spain recognized French dominion over the western third of the island, which in 1804 became Haiti. The remainder of the island, by then known as Santo Domingo, sought to gain its own independence in 1821 but was conquered and ruled by the Haitians for 22 years; it finally attained independence as the Dominican Republic in 1844. In 1861, the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire, but two years later they launched a war that restored independence in 1865. A legacy of unsettled, mostly non-representative rule followed, capped by the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas TRUJILLO from 1930 to 1961. Juan BOSCH was elected president in 1962 but was deposed in a military coup in 1963. In 1965, the United States led an intervention in the midst of a civil war sparked by an uprising to restore BOSCH. In 1966, Joaquin BALAGUER defeated BOSCH in an election to become president. BALAGUER maintained a tight grip on power for most of the next 30 years when international reaction to flawed elections forced him to curtail his term in 1996. Since then, regular competitive elections have been held in which opposition candidates have won the presidency. Former President Leonel FERNANDEZ Reyna (first term 1996-2000) won election to a new term in 2004 following a constitutional amendment allowing presidents to serve more than one term, and was later reelected to a second consecutive term. In 2012, Danilo MEDINA Sanchez was elected president.
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