| Nicaragua | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Age Structure | 0-14 years: 31.7%, 15-64 years: 63.8%,65+ years: 4.5% | 0-14 years: 20.1%, 15-64 years: 66.8%,65+ years: 13.1% |
| Median Age: | total: 22.9 yrs, male: 22.1 yrs, female: 23.7 yrs | total: 36.9 yrs, male: 35.6 yrs, female: 38.2 yrs |
| Birth rate: | 19.46 births/1,000 population (Rank: 93) | 13.83 births/1,000 population (Rank: 148) |
| Death rate: | 5.03 deaths/1,000 population (Rank: 182) | 8.38 deaths/1,000 population (Rank: 89) |
| Maternal mortality rate: | 100 deaths/100,00 live births (Rank: 71) | 24 deaths/100,00 live births (Rank: 121) |
| Infant mortality rate: | 22.64 deaths/1,000 live births (Rank: 88) | 6.06 deaths/1,000 live births (Rank: 175) |
| Life expectancy at birth: | 71.9 (Rank: 130) | 78.37 (Rank: 50) |
| Health Expenditures: | 9.5% of GDP (Rank: 38) | 16.2% of GDP (Rank: 2) |
| Physician density: | 0.37 physicians/1,000 population (Rank: 133) | 2.672 physicians/1,000 population (Rank: 49) |
| Hospital bed density: | 0.9 beds/1,000 population (Rank: 152) | 3.1 beds/1,000 population (Rank: 73) |
| HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate: | 0.2% (Rank: 106) | 0.6% (Rank: 64) |
| Children under 5 yrs underweight: | 4.3% (Rank: 90) | 1.3% (Rank:118) |
| Obesity adult prevalence: | Not listed | 33.9% (Rank: 6) |
| Major infectious diseases: | High degree of risk in bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, dengue fever, malaria, and leptospirosis | N/A |
Takeaways:
Based on the statistics for age structure, median age, and birth rate it appears that Nicaragua is growing at a faster rate than in the US since there is much higher proportion of younger individuals among Nicaragua's population. Nicaragua also has a life expectancy that is about 6 years less than in the US which also factors into the discrepancies in age structure and median age.
Statistics such as maternal mortality rate, infant mortality, physician density, and underweight children are major indicators for the state of healthcare for the nation. Although both the US and Nicaragua are not among the top ranked, there is still a major discrepancy in the quality of healthcare between the two countries based on these statistics.
Other notes:
Based on our visit to the Totolgalpa health center, the main health issues that physicians encounter are for respiratory illnesses, parasites, and chagas. Other health issues include maternal mortality, malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, external causes, and cancer.
The top 10 health issues in the US are heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, injuries, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, influenza & pneumonia, kidney disease, and septicemia.
Source: CIA World Factbook
