Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Barbados instead of Washington, you would:

Economy

make 80.2% less money

Washington has a GDP per capita of $87,768 as of 2024, while in Barbados, the GDP per capita is $17,400 as of 2023.

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be 50.0% more likely to be unemployed

In Washington, 5.3% of adults are unemployed as of 2025. In Barbados, that number is 8.0% as of 2023.

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The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Compare further: Washington vs. Barbados

Cost of Living Comparison · 7 categories - 2026 data
Barbados is 8.2% cheaper than Washington
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Size Comparison · See true size
Washington is about 401 times bigger than Barbados.
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Barbados: At a glance

Barbados is a sovereign country in Central America/Caribbean, with a total land area of approximately 430 sq km. The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. African slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.
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How big is Barbados compared to Washington? See an in-depth size comparison.

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