Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Germany instead of North Korea, you would:

Health

live 9.7 years longer

In North Korea, the average life expectancy is 72 years (68 years for men, 76 years for women) as of 2022. In Germany, that number is 82 years (79 years for men, 84 years for women) as of 2022.

be 3.3 times more likely to be obese

In North Korea, 6.8% of adults are obese as of 2016. In Germany, that number is 22.3% of people as of 2016.

Economy

make 31.8 times more money

North Korea has a GDP per capita of $1,700 as of 2015, while in Germany, the GDP per capita is $54,000 as of 2022.

Life

be 96.3% less likely to die during childbirth

In North Korea, approximately 107.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Germany, 4.0 women do as of 2020.

be 85.6% less likely to die during infancy

In North Korea, approximately 22.2 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2022. In Germany, on the other hand, 3.2 children do as of 2022.

have 32.6% fewer children

In North Korea, there are approximately 13.2 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Germany, there are 8.9 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

Basic Needs

be 90.1% more likely to have access to electricity

In North Korea, approximately 53% of the population has electricity access as of 2021. In Germany, 100% of the population do as of 2021.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook.

Germany: At a glance

Germany is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 348,672 sq km. As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation (after Russia), Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.
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