Quality of life comparison

compared to

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

Health

live 2.0 years longer

In Serbia, the average life expectancy is 74 years (72 years for men, 77 years for women) as of 2022. In Turkey, that number is 76 years (74 years for men, 79 years for women) as of 2022.

be 49.3% more likely to be obese

In Serbia, 21.5% of adults are obese as of 2016. In Turkey, that number is 32.1% of people as of 2016.

Economy

make 56.0% more money

Serbia has a GDP per capita of $18,200 as of 2020, while in Turkey, the GDP per capita is $28,400 as of 2020.

be 37.9% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Serbia, 23.2% live below the poverty line as of 2018. In Turkey, however, that number is 14.4% as of 2018.

pay a 2.3 times higher top tax rate

Serbia has a top tax rate of 15.0% as of 2017. In Turkey, the top tax rate is 35.0% as of 2016.

Life

have 60.1% more children

In Serbia, there are approximately 8.9 babies per 1,000 people as of 2022. In Turkey, there are 14.3 babies per 1,000 people as of 2022.

be 41.7% more likely to die during childbirth

In Serbia, approximately 12.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2017. In Turkey, 17.0 women do as of 2017.

be 4.0 times more likely to die during infancy

In Serbia, approximately 4.8 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Turkey, on the other hand, 19.4 children do as of 2022.

Expenditures

spend 50.6% less on healthcare

Serbia spends 8.7% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2019. In Turkey, that number is 4.3% of GDP as of 2019.

spend 19.4% more on education

Serbia spends 3.6% of its total GDP on education as of 2019. Turkey spends 4.3% of total GDP on education as of 2018.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook, Revenue Administration, Government of Turkey, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Serbia.

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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