Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in China instead of Suriname, you would:

Health

live 3.7 years longer

In Suriname, the average life expectancy is 72 years (69 years for men, 76 years for women) as of 2022. In China, that number is 76 years (74 years for men, 81 years for women) as of 2020.

be 76.5% less likely to be obese

In Suriname, 26.4% of adults are obese as of 2016. In China, that number is 6.2% of people as of 2016.

Economy

be 59.1% less likely to be unemployed

In Suriname, 8.9% of adults are unemployed as of 2017. In China, that number is 3.6% as of 2019.

be 99.1% less likely to live below the poverty line

In Suriname, 70.0% live below the poverty line as of 2002. In China, however, that number is 0.6% as of 2019.

pay a 18.4% higher top tax rate

Suriname has a top tax rate of 38.0% as of 2016. In China, the top tax rate is 45.0% as of 2016.

Life

be 75.8% less likely to die during childbirth

In Suriname, approximately 120.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2017. In China, 29.0 women do as of 2017.

be 77.7% less likely to die during infancy

In Suriname, approximately 30.2 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In China, on the other hand, 6.8 children do as of 2022.

have 35.4% fewer children

In Suriname, there are approximately 15.4 babies per 1,000 people as of 2022. In China, there are 9.9 babies per 1,000 people as of 2022.

Expenditures

spend 51.4% less on education

Suriname spends 7.2% of its total GDP on education as of 2019. China spends 3.5% of total GDP on education as of 2018.

spend 44.3% less on healthcare

Suriname spends 9.7% of its total GDP on healthcare as of 2019. In China, that number is 5.4% of GDP as of 2019.

Geography

see 37.6 times more coastline

Suriname has a total of 386 km of coastline. In China, that number is 14,500 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook, Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation.

China: At a glance

China (sometimes abbreviated PRC) is a sovereign country in East/Southeast Asia, with a total land area of approximately 9,326,410 sq km. For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, MAO's successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight. Since the early 1990s, China has increased its global outreach and participation in international organizations.
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How big is China compared to Suriname? See an in-depth size comparison.

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