"Is Part of the United States in the Third World?"

Started by Fireblade, May 20, 2009, 09:38:39 PM

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Fireblade

May 20, 2009, 09:38:39 PM
Survey says: YES!

QuoteA little while ago I asked if the United States was becoming a third world country. The purpose of that post was to point out that the US had rates of income inequality that were totally out of line with other developed countries, but would have been typical for countries in the developing world.

But there's a much more direct measure of the actual level of development of a country: the human development index. The HDI combines measures of various social indicators, including life expectancy, literacy, education, and per capita GDP, to measure overall human development, which "refers to the process of widening the options of persons, giving them greater opportunities for education, health care, income, employment, etc." By this measure, the United States ranks rather high - 15th out of all countries, with an HDI of .950, according to this table, which is based on 2006 data. But the HDI of individual states varies quite a bit. Here is a map from Wikipedia of states by their human development index score:

This map is based on numbers from this table, which come from the American Human Development Report. It gives a good sense of regional patterns of human development in the US and the comparative relationship of states to each other. But the numbers in the abstract don't tell us much; to see what these numbers mean, we need to compare them to other countries. And when we do that, we see that the HDI of many states are comparable to some of the most developed countries in the world. However, other states have HDI scores well outside the range of the developed economies of Europe and Asia.

To illustrate the point, I am now going to make a long list. These are the 76 top countries ranked by human development index score, with the 50 states interposed to show their relative level of development, based on the two tables linked above:

1. Iceland - .968
2. Norway - .968
3. Canada - .967
4. Australia - .965
5. Ireland - .962
Connecticut - .962
Massachusetts - .961
New Jersey - .961
District of Columbia - .960
Maryland - .960
Hawaii - .959
New York - .959
6. Netherlands - .958
7. Sweden - .958
New Hampshire - .958
Minnesota - .958
Rhode Island - .958
California - .958
Colorado - .958
Virginia - .957
Illinois - .957
8. Japan - .956
9. Luxembourg - .956
10. Switzerland - .955
11. France - .955
Vermont - .955
Washington - .955
Alaska - .955
12. Finland - .954
Delaware - .953
13. Denmark - .952
Wisconsin - .952
14. Austria - .951
Michigan - .951
15. United States - .950
Iowa - .950
Pennsylvania - .950
16. Spain - .949
17. Belgium - .948
18. Greece - .947
Nebraska - .946
19. Italy - .945
20. New Zealand - .944
21. United Kingdom - .942
22. Hong Kong - .942
Kansas - .941
23. Germany - .940
Arizona - .939
North Dakota - .936
Oregon - .935
Maine - .932
Utah - .932
Ohio - .932
24. Israel - .930
Georgia - .928
Indiana - .928
25. South Korea - .927
North Carolina - .925
26. Slovenia - .923
27. Brunei - .919
28. Singapore - .918
Texas - .914
29. Kuwait - .912
30. Cyprus - .912
Missouri - .912
Nevada - .911
31. United Arab Emirates - .903
32. Bahrain - .902
South Dakota - .902
33. Portugal - .900
34. Qatar - .899
Florida - .898
35. Czech Republic - .897
Wyoming - .897
New Mexico - .895
36. Malta - .894
Idaho - .890
37. Barbados - .889
Montana - .885
38. Hungary - .877
39. Poland - .875 (Tamas, you may mock Martinus for this ;) )
40. Chile - .874
41. Slovakia - .872
42. Estonia - .871
South Carolina - .871
43. Lithuania - .869
44. Latvia - .863
45. Croatia - .862
46. Argentina - .860
47. Uruguay - .859
48. Cuba - .855
49. Bahamas - .854
50. Costa Rica - .847
51. Mexico - .842
52. Libya - .840
53. Oman - .839
54. Seychelles - .836
55. Saudi Arabia - .835
56. Bulgaria - .834
57. Trinidad and Tobago - .833
58. Panama - .832
59. Antigua and Barbuda - .830
60. Saint Kitts and Nevis - .830
61. Venezuela - .826
62. Romania - .825
63. Malaysia - .823
64. Montenegro - .822
65. Serbia - .821
66. Saint Lucia - .821
Kentucky - .820
67. Belarus - .817
Tennessee - .816
Oklahoma - .815
Alabama - .809
68. Macedonia - .808
69. Albania - .807
70. Brazil - .807
71. Kazakhstan - .807
72. Ecuador - .807
73. Russia - .806
Arkansas - .803
74. Mauritius - .802
75. Bosnia and Herzegovina - .802
Louisiana - .801
West Virginia - .800
Mississippi - .799
76. Turkey - .798

http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/05/human-development-index-by-state.html

Arkansas might be less civilized than Russia, but the Arkansan just won American Idol. :yeah:

Monoriu

#1
May 20, 2009, 09:48:00 PM
If Hong Kong is ranked 22, this study is BS  :P

katmai

#2
May 20, 2009, 09:49:21 PM
Quote from: Monoriu on May 20, 2009, 09:48:00 PM
If Hong Kong is ranked 22, this study is BS  :P

It can't be that bad, as you insist on staying there. :whistle:
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

Faeelin

#3
May 20, 2009, 09:50:37 PM
This study sounds too fucked up for words.

Fireblade

#4
May 20, 2009, 09:51:59 PM
Quote from: Faeelin on May 20, 2009, 09:50:37 PM
This study sounds too fucked up for words.

I can believe that Bosnia is more civilized than Louisiana.

Fireblade

#5
May 20, 2009, 09:52:38 PM
Anyway, the REAL news is that Kris Allen won American Idol! :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

katmai

#6
May 20, 2009, 09:54:47 PM
Who won what?
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

Neil

#7
May 20, 2009, 09:55:20 PM
So you're measuring individual states against average values for countries?  Apples and oranges.  The study sucks, and only proves that southerners are overly credible.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

MadImmortalMan

#8
May 20, 2009, 10:04:35 PM
I looked up the HDI to see what the criteria were, and it looks like an epic fail. Too bad, because it was pretty funny.
"Stability is destabilizing." --Hyman Minsky

"Complacency can be a self-denying prophecy."
"We have nothing to fear but lack of fear itself." --Larry Summers

Eddie Teach

#9
May 20, 2009, 10:07:41 PM
Quote from: Fireblade on May 20, 2009, 09:52:38 PM
Anyway, the REAL news is that Kris Allen won American Idol! :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

:zzz:

Be honest, would you ever consider buying a Kris Allen album?

I kinda figured a coupld months ago that Adam Lambert would probably finish second. He was pretty clearly the best vocalist(at the time, and has continued to be since) but vaguely unsettling(read: gay).
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Faeelin

#10
May 20, 2009, 10:09:08 PM
Quote from: Neil on May 20, 2009, 09:55:20 PM
So you're measuring individual states against average values for countries?  Apples and oranges.  The study sucks, and only proves that southerners are overly credible.

What's wrong with measuring a country like Cyprus against Arkansas?

Valmy

#11
May 20, 2009, 10:29:38 PM
QuoteTexas - .914

Hah!  In your FACE Kuwait!
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Fireblade

#12
May 20, 2009, 10:34:15 PM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on May 20, 2009, 10:07:41 PM
Be honest, would you ever consider buying a Kris Allen album?

Fuck no, I just like it that a guy who goes to my college won. :P

Savonarola

#13
May 20, 2009, 10:49:05 PM
Quote from: Fireblade on May 20, 2009, 09:38:39 PM
District of Columbia - .960

:lol:

Thank you Marion Barry for facilitating Human Development.
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock

Legbiter

#14
May 20, 2009, 10:53:29 PM
Quote from: Fireblade on May 20, 2009, 09:38:39 PM
Survey says: YES!

To illustrate the point, I am now going to make a long list. These are the 76 top countries ranked by human development index score, with the 50 states interposed to show their relative level of development, based on the two tables linked above:

1. Iceland - .968

The Icelandic currency has dropped by 60%, the banking system has all but collapsed, we remain in the vise of the British Anti-Terrorism Act, yours truly is quietly studying the feasibility of relocating the family business to Norway (rather than say, remain as Gordon Browns indentured servant) and we're tying with Norway in some UN poll?

Eh, give it till 2010, we'll rank lower than Portugal.

Posted using 100% recycled electrons.
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