If you lived in Rwanda instead of Solomon Islands, you would:

Health

be 74.4% less likely to be obese

In Solomon Islands, 21.8% of adults are obese as of 2024. In Rwanda, that number is 5.6% of people as of 2024.

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see 15.4% more spent on your healthcare

Solomon Islands spends $153 per person on healthcare as of 2023 (international dollars, adjusted for prices). Rwanda spends $177 as of 2023.

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be 55.7% less likely to die by suicide

Solomon Islands has a suicide rate of 19.6 per 100,000 people as of 2021. In Rwanda, it is 8.7 per 100,000 as of 2021.

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be 20.0 times more likely to be living with HIV/AIDS

In Solomon Islands, 0.1% of people are living with AIDS/HIV as of 2024. In Rwanda, that number is 2.0% of people as of 2024.

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live 2.7 years less

In Solomon Islands, the average life expectancy is 71 years (69 years for men, 72 years for women) as of 2024. In Rwanda, that number is 68 years (66 years for men, 70 years for women) as of 2024.

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have 62.2% fewer doctors per person

Solomon Islands has 2.4 doctors per 10,000 people as of 2023. Rwanda has 0.9 as of 2022.

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Economy

be 7.9 times more likely to be unemployed

In Solomon Islands, 1.4% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Rwanda, that number is 11.4% as of 2025.

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make 46.1% less money

Solomon Islands has a GDP per capita of $2,086 as of 2025, while in Rwanda, the GDP per capita is $1,124 as of 2025.

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Life

be 86.2% more likely to die during childbirth

In Solomon Islands, approximately 123.0 women die from pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births as of 2023. In Rwanda, 229.0 women do as of 2023.

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be 79.3% more likely to die during infancy

In Solomon Islands, approximately 16.4 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Rwanda, on the other hand, 29.4 children do as of 2024.

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Basic Needs

be 21.4% less likely to have access to electricity

In Solomon Islands, approximately 81% of people have electricity access (81% in urban areas, and 81% in rural areas) as of 2023. In Rwanda, that number is 64% of people on average (100% in urban areas, and 58% in rural areas) as of 2023.

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be 14.3% less likely to have access to drinking water

In Solomon Islands, approximately 72% of people have access to drinking water (91% in urban areas, and 65% in rural areas) as of 2024. In Rwanda, that number is 61% of people on average (88% in urban areas, and 56% in rural areas) as of 2024.

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Expenditures

spend 44.4% less on education

Solomon Islands spends 8.3% of its total GDP on education as of 2023. Rwanda spends 4.6% of total GDP on education as of 2024.

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Infrastructure

find 5.5 times more home broadband

Solomon Islands has 0.1 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2022. Rwanda has 0.6 as of 2024.

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Environment

emit 57.9% less CO2

Solomon Islands emits 0.4 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Rwanda emits 0.2 tonnes as of 2024.

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Sources: World Bank (2021–2025), World Health Organization (2024). How we calculate this

Rwanda: At a glance

Rwanda is a sovereign country in Africa, with a total land area of approximately 24,668 sq km. In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions, culminating in April 1994 in a state-orchestrated genocide, in which Rwandans killed up to a million of their fellow citizens, including approximately three-quarters of the Tutsi population. The genocide ended later that same year when the predominantly Tutsi RPF, operating out of Uganda and northern Rwanda, defeated the national army and Hutu militias, and established an RPF-led government of national unity. Approximately 2 million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and former Zaire. Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but several thousand remained in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, the former Zaire) and formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda, much as the RPF did in 1990. Rwanda held its first local elections in 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections in 2003. Rwanda in 2009 staged a joint military operation with the Congolese Army in DRC to rout out the Hutu extremist insurgency there, and Kigali and Kinshasa restored diplomatic relations. Rwanda also joined the Commonwealth in late 2009. In January 2013, Rwanda assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2013-14 term.
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