Matchup file

Nicaragua vs Panama

107 shared metrics.

NicaraguaLeads in 39

vs107 shared

PanamaLeads in 68

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Panama leads by 29 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

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Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

Nicaragua

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of Nicaragua.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Lake Nicaragua is freshwater, but its famous lake sharks are bull sharks linked to the sea by a river.

UNL

Panama

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of Panama.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

The Panama Canal lets ships cross between Atlantic and Pacific waters without rounding South America.

Britannica

Analysis

Panama leads in 68 of 107 shared metrics, while Nicaragua leads in 39.

Nicaragua's Current Account Balance (% of GDP) is 27.7x that of Panama (8.6% of GDP vs 0.30% of GDP).

Nicaragua's Capital Elevation is 6.2x that of Panama (143 m vs 20 m).

Nicaragua's Inflation Rate is 5.6x that of Panama (4.6% vs 0.70%).

Nicaragua's Irrigated Land is 4.0x that of Panama (2.0K km² vs 394 km²).

Nicaragua's Tax Revenue (% GDP) is 1.7x that of Panama (19.94% of GDP vs 7.5% of GDP).

Key Comparisons

Current Account Balance (% of GDP)Nicaragua leads

Nicaragua

8.6% of GDP

Panama

0.30% of GDP

Capital ElevationNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

143 m

Panama

20 m

Inflation RateNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

4.6%

Panama

0.70%

Irrigated LandNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

2.0K km²

Panama

394 km²

Tax Revenue (% GDP)Nicaragua leads

Nicaragua

19.94% of GDP

Panama

7.5% of GDP

Spirits ConsumptionNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

0.94

Panama

0.48

94% higher

Solar Electricity Share

Panama

Nicaragua

0.66%

Panama

7.4%

91% lower

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Panama

Nicaragua

1.3 per 1M people

Panama

13.89 per 1M people

90% lower

Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)

Scientific Publications

Panama

Nicaragua

41.45

Panama

376.12

89% lower

GNI Per Capita

Panama

Nicaragua

$2,510

Panama

$18,010

86% lower

Health Spending Per Capita

Panama

Nicaragua

$208.48

Panama

$1,472.05

86% lower

Road Traffic Death Rate

Nicaragua

13.6 per 100k

Panama

7.3 per 100k

86% higher

FDI Inflows (% GDP)

Nicaragua

6.9% of GDP

Panama

3.7% of GDP

83% higher

Land Border Length

Nicaragua

1.3K km

Panama

687 km

82% higher

Comparison of Nicaragua and Panama across 107 metrics
				Winner
Current Account Balance (% of GDP)	8.6% of GDP	0.30% of GDP	2767% higher	Nicaragua
Capital Elevation	143 m	20 m	615% higher	Nicaragua
Inflation Rate	4.6%	0.70%	557% higher	Nicaragua
Irrigated Land	2.0K km²	394 km²	405% higher	Nicaragua
Tax Revenue (% GDP)	19.94% of GDP	7.5% of GDP	167% higher	Nicaragua
Spirits Consumption	2.0 L/person/yr	0.78 L/person/yr	159% higher	Nicaragua
Women in Parliament (%)	53.85%	21.43%	151% higher	Nicaragua
Merchant Fleet Size	5.0	8.2K	100% lower	Panama
Shipping Traffic	153.4K	8.52M	98% lower	Panama
Freedom of Expression Index	0.02	0.81	98% lower	Panama
Liberal Democracy Index	0.02	0.57	97% lower	Panama
Political Corruption Index	0.94	0.48	94% higher	Nicaragua
Solar Electricity Share	0.66%	7.4%	91% lower	Panama
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	1.3 per 1M people	13.89 per 1M people	90% lower	Panama
Scientific Publications	41.45	376.12	89% lower	Panama
GNI Per Capita	$2,510	$18,010	86% lower	Panama
Health Spending Per Capita	$208.48	$1,472.05	86% lower	Panama
Road Traffic Death Rate	13.6 per 100k	7.3 per 100k	86% higher	Nicaragua
FDI Inflows (% GDP)	6.9% of GDP	3.7% of GDP	83% higher	Nicaragua
Land Border Length	1.3K km	687 km	82% higher	Nicaragua
Renewable Energy (%)	50.4%	28%	80% higher	Nicaragua
Electoral Democracy Index	0.15	0.73	79% lower	Panama
Mobile Money Accounts	8.1% of adults	38.05% of adults	79% lower	Panama
GDP Per Capita (PPP)	$8,708.8	$41,369.42	79% lower	Panama
GDP (Nominal)	$19,693,982,967.59	$86,523,959,131.75	77% lower	Panama
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0.06 per 100k people	0.24 per 100k people	76% lower	Panama
Wind Electricity Share	12.39%	7.2%	73% higher	Nicaragua
Electricity Use (Per Capita)	682.4 kWh/person	2.5K kWh/person	73% lower	Panama
Broadband Access (%)	5.0 per 100 people	18 per 100 people	72% lower	Panama
CO2 Per Capita	0.81 t/person/yr	2.8 t/person/yr	71% lower	Panama
Credit Card Ownership	3.8% of adults	12.72% of adults	70% lower	Panama
ATMs per 100,000 Adults	22.68 per 100k	72.6 per 100k	69% lower	Panama
Digital Payments Used	16.39% of adults	52.08% of adults	69% lower	Panama
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	2.0 sites	6.0 sites	67% lower	Panama
Beer Consumption	1.2 L/person/yr	3.5 L/person/yr	66% lower	Panama
High-Tech Exports (%)	0.60%	1.8%	66% lower	Panama
Electricity Generation	4.4 TWh	12.87 TWh	66% lower	Panama
Minimum Paid Vacation Days	11 days/yr	30 days/yr	63% lower	Panama
Teen Birth Rate	93.45 per 1k	57.34 per 1k	63% higher	Nicaragua
Coastline Length	910 km	2.5K km	63% lower	Panama
Land Area	120.3K km²	74.2K km²	62% higher	Nicaragua
Electric Generating Capacity	1.85M kW	4.49M kW	59% lower	Panama
Corruption Perceptions Index	14 pts	33 pts	58% lower	Panama
Doctors (per 1,000)	0.68 per 1k	1.6 per 1k	58% lower	Panama
Armed Forces Personnel	12.0K	28.0K	57% lower	Panama
Forest Coverage (%)	25.82%	56.34%	54% lower	Panama
Total CO2 Emissions	5.7 Mt CO2e	12.37 Mt CO2e	54% lower	Panama
Meat Consumption per Person	30.82 kg/person/yr	65.02 kg/person/yr	53% lower	Panama
Seafood Consumption per Person	6.5 kg/person/yr	13.74 kg/person/yr	53% lower	Panama
Hospital Beds (per 1,000)	0.90 per 1k	1.9 per 1k	53% lower	Panama
Youth Unemployment Rate	9.5% of youth labor force	19.77% of youth labor force	52% lower	Panama
Population	6.74M	4.54M	49% higher	Nicaragua
Airports	39	76	49% lower	Panama
Imports (% GDP)	58.06% of GDP	39.32% of GDP	48% higher	Nicaragua
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	16.81 µg/m³	11.47 µg/m³	47% higher	Nicaragua
University Enrollment Rate	30.36%	53.7%	43% lower	Panama
Agricultural Land (%)	42.31%	29.52%	43% higher	Nicaragua
Energy Use (Per Capita)	608.25 kg oil eq/person	1.1K kg oil eq/person	43% lower	Panama
Elderly Population (%)	5.5%	9.4%	41% lower	Panama
Highest Elevation	2.1K m	3.5K m	40% lower	Panama
Informal Employment Share	81.79% of employed people	58.69% of employed people	39% higher	Nicaragua
Electricity Carbon Intensity	300.89 gCO2/kWh	221.15 gCO2/kWh	36% higher	Nicaragua
Protected Land (%)	21.2%	31.4%	32% lower	Panama
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	106 per 100 people	157 per 100 people	32% lower	Panama
Insufficient Physical Activity	36.91% of adults	54.63% of adults	32% lower	Panama
GDP Growth Rate	3.6%	2.7%	31% higher	Nicaragua
Unemployment Rate	4.6%	6.5%	30% lower	Panama
Suicide Rate	4.2 per 100k	3.3 per 100k	29% higher	Nicaragua
Women's Political Empowerment	0.53	0.74	28% lower	Panama
Tourist Arrivals	474.0K	647.0K	27% lower	Panama
Forest Area	31.1K km²	41.8K km²	26% lower	Panama
Internet Users (%)	58%	78%	26% lower	Panama
Fertility Rate	1.8 children/woman	2.3 children/woman	22% lower	Panama
Milk Consumption per Person	85.16 kg/person/yr	70.29 kg/person/yr	21% higher	Nicaragua
Alcohol Consumption	3.7 L/adult/yr	4.7 L/adult/yr	21% lower	Panama
Women in Senior Management	53.68% of managers	46.05% of managers	17% higher	Nicaragua
Human Development Index	0.71	0.84	16% lower	Panama
Education Spending (% GDP)	2.9% of GDP	2.5% of GDP	16% higher	Nicaragua
Youth Population (%)	28.76%	24.89%	16% higher	Nicaragua
Median Age	25.3 years	29.6 years	15% lower	Panama
Government Debt (% GDP)	33.3% of GDP	37.4% of GDP	11% lower	Panama
Obesity Rate	32.42%	36.08%	10% lower	Panama
Urban Population (%)	59.26%	66%	10% lower	Panama
Electricity Access (%)	88.3%	97%	9% lower	Panama
Exports (% GDP)	40.46% of GDP	44.36% of GDP	9% lower	Panama
Water Stress (%)	0.81%	0.89%	8% lower	Panama
Population Density	56.7 /km²	60.11 /km²	6% lower	Panama
Birth Rate	16.07 per 1k	17.11 per 1k	6% lower	Panama
Death Rate	5.1 per 1k	5.5 per 1k	6% lower	Panama
Life Expectancy	74.9 years	79.6 years	6% lower	Panama
Health Spending (% GDP)	9.0% of GDP	8.5% of GDP	6% higher	Nicaragua
Water Withdrawal	1.3 B m³	1.2 B m³	5% higher	Nicaragua
Food Waste per Person	151.27 kg/person/yr	158.59 kg/person/yr	5% lower	Panama
Life Evaluation Score	6.3 pts	6.5 pts	4% lower	Panama
Can Raise Emergency Money	88.4% of adults	84.87% of adults	4% higher	Nicaragua
Infant Mortality	10.3 per 1k births	10.6 per 1k births	3% lower	Panama
Homicide Rate	11.35 per 100k	11.71 per 100k	3% lower	Panama
Child Mortality	13.4 per 1k births	13.3 per 1k births	1% higher	Nicaragua
Average Weekly Work Hours	36.45 hrs/week	36.01 hrs/week	1% higher	Nicaragua
Time Zones Count	2.0 time zones	2.0 time zones	equal	Nicaragua
Dependency Ratio	52.19% of working-age pop.	52.09% of working-age pop.	equal	Nicaragua
Coal Electricity Share	0%	3.7%	ranked lower	Panama
Hypertension Prevalence	36.1% of adults	36.1% of adults	equal	Nicaragua
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0 per 1M people	0 per 1M people	ranked higher	Nicaragua
Lowest Elevation	0 m	0 m	ranked higher	Nicaragua
Official Languages Count	1.0	1.0	equal	Nicaragua
Border Neighbors	2.0	2.0	equal	Nicaragua

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Nicaragua Panama

Analysis

Panama leads in 68 of 107 shared metrics, while Nicaragua leads in 39.

Nicaragua's Current Account Balance (% of GDP) is 27.7x that of Panama (8.6% of GDP vs 0.30% of GDP).

Nicaragua's Capital Elevation is 6.2x that of Panama (143 m vs 20 m).

Nicaragua's Inflation Rate is 5.6x that of Panama (4.6% vs 0.70%).

Nicaragua's Irrigated Land is 4.0x that of Panama (2.0K km² vs 394 km²).

Nicaragua's Tax Revenue (% GDP) is 1.7x that of Panama (19.94% of GDP vs 7.5% of GDP).

Key Comparisons

Current Account Balance (% of GDP)Nicaragua leads

Nicaragua

8.6% of GDP

Panama

0.30% of GDP

Capital ElevationNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

143 m

Panama

20 m

Inflation RateNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

4.6%

Panama

0.70%

Irrigated LandNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

2.0K km²

Panama

394 km²

Tax Revenue (% GDP)Nicaragua leads

Nicaragua

19.94% of GDP

Panama

7.5% of GDP

Spirits ConsumptionNicaragua leads

Nicaragua

2.0 L/person/yr

Panama

0.78 L/person/yr

Current Account Balance (% of GDP)

8.6% of GDP

0.30% of GDP

Capital Elevation

143 m

20 m

Inflation Rate

4.6%

0.70%

Irrigated Land

2.0K km²

394 km²

Tax Revenue (% GDP)

19.94% of GDP

7.5% of GDP

Spirits Consumption

2.0 L/person/yr

0.78 L/person/yr

Women in Parliament (%)

53.85%

21.43%

Merchant Fleet Size

5.0

8.2K

Shipping Traffic

153.4K

8.52M

Freedom of Expression Index

0.02

0.81

Liberal Democracy Index

0.02

0.57

Political Corruption Index

0.94

0.48

Solar Electricity Share

0.66%

7.4%

1.3 per 1M people

13.89 per 1M people

Scientific Publications

41.45

376.12

GNI Per Capita

$2,510

$18,010

Health Spending Per Capita

$208.48

$1,472.05

Road Traffic Death Rate

13.6 per 100k

7.3 per 100k

FDI Inflows (% GDP)

6.9% of GDP

3.7% of GDP

Land Border Length

1.3K km

687 km

Nicaragua vs Panama

Think you can spot the next winner?

What matters for both sides

Nicaragua

Panama

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Current Account Balance (% of GDP)

Capital Elevation

Inflation Rate

Irrigated Land

Tax Revenue (% GDP)

Spirits Consumption

Women in Parliament (%)

Merchant Fleet Size

Shipping Traffic

Freedom of Expression Index

Liberal Democracy Index

Political Corruption Index

Solar Electricity Share

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Scientific Publications

GNI Per Capita

Health Spending Per Capita

Road Traffic Death Rate

FDI Inflows (% GDP)

Land Border Length

Renewable Energy (%)

Electoral Democracy Index

Mobile Money Accounts

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

GDP (Nominal)

EV Chargers per 100,000 People

Wind Electricity Share

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

Broadband Access (%)

CO2 Per Capita

Credit Card Ownership

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

Digital Payments Used

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Beer Consumption

High-Tech Exports (%)

Electricity Generation

Minimum Paid Vacation Days

Teen Birth Rate

Coastline Length

Land Area

Electric Generating Capacity

Corruption Perceptions Index

Doctors (per 1,000)

Armed Forces Personnel

Forest Coverage (%)

Total CO2 Emissions

Meat Consumption per Person

Seafood Consumption per Person

Hospital Beds (per 1,000)

Youth Unemployment Rate

Population

Airports

Imports (% GDP)

Air Pollution (PM2.5)

University Enrollment Rate

Agricultural Land (%)

Energy Use (Per Capita)

Elderly Population (%)

Highest Elevation

Informal Employment Share

Electricity Carbon Intensity

Protected Land (%)

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

Insufficient Physical Activity

GDP Growth Rate

Unemployment Rate

Suicide Rate

Women's Political Empowerment

Tourist Arrivals

Forest Area

Internet Users (%)