The HDI DPRK is 0.733 according to https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/wp-09-02.pdf.
Education is a factor and the education system is well developed, universal, and compulsory. Literacy is 99% with the 1% illiterate probably very elderly women. Even life expectancy is quite high. It's 157 according to the list.
Very interesting quiz. Was a little surprised to see that Yemen has such a low index, I had the idea the whole Arabian Peninsula region was wealthy because of oil - I suppose the current conflict in Yemen has just exposed long term socioeconomic problems that had previously been little-publicised?
Though oil poor next to any of it's nearby Arabian neighbors, Yemen's oil reserves are not negligible. However, the country has long been rife with conflict and corruption as it has played host to civil wars and proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Egypt and now Saudi Arabia and Iran, and those oil reserves have never been fully exploited.
I still don't understand this quiz series. Tuvalu isn't on here, and I believe the country has one single car. And I challenge anyone to travel the main island of Palau (on the most-developed list) and then the FSM capital island of Pohnpei (on the least-developed list) and tell me which one appears "more developed"... with supposedly more than 100 countries in between!
I'd much rather live in Bangladesh than Cambodia. As a person of Bangladeshi descent, I may be biased... but even if Bangladesh and Cambodia are comparable to each other, I think most people would much rather live in Bangladesh than in Afghanistan, Syria, Myanmar, or even Pakistan.
Not having Africa does make this a slightly odd quiz, but it's easily understandable why it's done that way - of the bottom 20 countries only 2 are not in Africa, of the bottom 30 only 3.
I think the only reasonable way to go for this quiz is by continent.
PPP is such an absolute crock. Anyone who's been to a few of the countries on the list can see that at a glance. No idea why JetPunk uses such a subjective and limited measure as a factor in so many quizzes.
It's a bit sobering to realize that Pakistan now has a lower HDI than Syria. Also, surprised by no Iraq, although it seems that they're pretty close with an HDI of 0.686.
Spooky quiz, seeing countries like Bangladesh & Pakistan on it. It's unfortunate that providing accessible birth control to the people there isn't a frontline issue for organizations like the UN & WHO.
I'd have thought that countries in Oceania would have an easy time of life, doing business with any number of Occidental countries. I'm sure many would be willing to trade resources for their strategic locations. I don't know what the excuse is for not educating yourself when you live on an island with just 10,000 other people, and it's only a few miles long. Get on the internet & read. Seems like a situation where you'd have to try to fail.
I guess on the other side of things, surprisingly high-scoring countries, would be: Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Turkey, Mauritius, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, and Costa Rica. (wonder what causes the Mauritius & Trinidad outliers?)
Bangladesh has a better HDI score than Pakistan in part because of its emphasis on female literacy which indirectly helps improve birth control. Its birth rate is now below the replacement rate and half the level of Pakistan.
"Get on the internet & read." Sheesh, dude, calm down. And these "surprisingly high-scoring countries" could probably be not as surprising with some research.
re: "Get on the internet and read" comment. A person's environment is a huge indicator of personal opportunity.
Coming from intergenerational illiteracy, poverty, possible abuse/alcoholism, poor schools, lack of job opportunities and role models etc. does not mean "you'd have to try to fail". It means you can't see how to succeed.
Cultural attitudes are a barrier. New Zealand has been very effective in encouraging success among Pacific Island nations. New Zealand is the carrot while climate change is the whip. For many Pacific Islander youth, the motivation is to do well, get a scholarship to New Zealand and off the island before the ocean covers.
I've got as much respect for Tuvaluans as anyone else. I'm not going to deny them basic humanities like self-determination or control of their own actions. They're the same as you and me, I won't pity them.
Even if they tackled a small goal, like providing $10,000-15,000/year to each citizen, that'd only require $150m/year. Which I think is something like a $5b fund.
I initially guessed North Korea, and while I recognize there is no HDI score for lack of information, I thought that it might actually have a decent HDI score. Wikipedia says the life expectancy is 73 years, which is above the world average, and from documentaries I've seen education is a priority in the country. Income might lose it points but I've always thought that North Korean income estimates are flawed because the country's economy is mostly internal and the North Korean Won isn't used in foreign trade and so is hard to calculate the value of. The internal economy also likely makes the cost of living cheaper so even if income is nominally low, in real terms it might be better. It's a shame that most people just think of the country as "evil scary bad guy nuke country" because it's a very interesting place, and that perspective makes it hard to investigate the reality when most of the information you can find easily in the media and online is sensationalized.
Education is a factor and the education system is well developed, universal, and compulsory. Literacy is 99% with the 1% illiterate probably very elderly women. Even life expectancy is quite high. It's 157 according to the list.
I think the only reasonable way to go for this quiz is by continent.
Rich, long-lived, and well-educated? Not according to this quiz.
I'd have thought that countries in Oceania would have an easy time of life, doing business with any number of Occidental countries. I'm sure many would be willing to trade resources for their strategic locations. I don't know what the excuse is for not educating yourself when you live on an island with just 10,000 other people, and it's only a few miles long. Get on the internet & read. Seems like a situation where you'd have to try to fail.
I guess on the other side of things, surprisingly high-scoring countries, would be: Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Turkey, Mauritius, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, and Costa Rica. (wonder what causes the Mauritius & Trinidad outliers?)
Coming from intergenerational illiteracy, poverty, possible abuse/alcoholism, poor schools, lack of job opportunities and role models etc. does not mean "you'd have to try to fail". It means you can't see how to succeed.
Even if they tackled a small goal, like providing $10,000-15,000/year to each citizen, that'd only require $150m/year. Which I think is something like a $5b fund.
There's no excuse not to educate yourself.