Almost half the population of India does not use toilets. When people use the word “shithole” to describe India, only the hole is metaphorical.
And yet, one can live for months in many parts of India in middle-class communities and never see any human excrement at all. (Except one’s own, natch.)
I’m not saying that India doesn’t have many serious problems as a developing nation. I’m just mentioning that India, with all its rural and slum sanitation defects and many other problems, is still closer to a modern developed nation than about one-third of the world’s countries.
It varies from by cycles (one being ahead for a while, then another), but roughly, Italy, France and the UK have the same population and GDP, and have been pretty much on par economically for the last 40 years or so. If you look at the wikipedia GDP page, for instance, you will notice that the rankings of these countries are so close that different sources give a different order. By capita, Italy is more significantly behind at the moment, but it’s a relatively recent change.
I think that was the point. Most European countries, excepting the ex-communist ones who are catching up fast, are at pretty similar standards of living. This does not apply to the North American Continent with wide differences between Mexico and the USA.
That’s a pretty big exception there.
In Europe, like in Asia or Africa or Latin America, countries tend to be similar…when you lump similar countries together.
I thought it was pretty obvious I was talking about the US.
So all the countries in Europe are pretty much the same, except the ones that aren’t. That applies to North America as well.
ETA: Not all the ex-communist countries are “catching up fast”.
Agreed. GDP per capita in much of the Balkans is at or below Mexico’s.
Relative to other “first world” countries, tap water in the US is terrible. Relative to Mexico, Texan tap water is probably okay.
Got a cite for that?
:dubious:
Unless you are comparing taste?
In contrary to the stereotypes Americans have of us, we are known to be very hard workers. We just play harder than you do.
US standards for microbial and pesticide contamination are relatively low. Also, the federal system tends to create substantial disparities in water quality across the US, as municipal/local water systems may have minimal monitoring (as is sort of noted in your own cite).
Put it this way: when there is a boil water alert in the UK, it’s national news. There is a boil water alert somewhere in the US (particularly in the South, ISTM) practically every day.
Thats what I’m meaning. iI one drove from Denmark to Italy and visited all the countries in between, I dont think you would see the difference as much as if one drove into Mexico from Texas.
Well, duh. You picked a route between three (or five, depending on your exact route) wealthy countries.
I wasn’t trying to say Mexicans don’t work hard, I was trying to say Mexican work ethic has nothing to do with being Protestant since most Mexicans are Catholic.
Exactly. What if you drove from Austria to Greece?
If we understand the historical reasons why ex-Warsaw Pact countries are lagging behind western Europe, and why ex-Ottoman Empire countries lag behind western Europe, then we can have some ideas about why Mexico lags behind the US.
Mexico is well ahead of many European countries, like Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Albania. Yes, they’re all ex-communist, have a history of conflict, and so on. That’s the point. Mexico has it’s own history of colonization and
Mexico is well ahead of China in per-capita GDP. It is above the world average in per-capita GDP. It’s a medium rank country, not really poor. Why do you think Guatemalans are trying to sneak into Mexico?
If you really want to see a radical change when you cross the border, try Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Um… what? What other countries are in North America?
Many consider Central America to be part of North America, as they are part of the same continent. 23 nations overall.
Look at a globe. Do you see that big ol’ chunk of land known as “South America”? That big ol’ chunk of land north of it is another continent. That’s the one that’s called “North America”.
Why is Mexico such a dump?
Due primarily to the cruel tyranny of El Guapo.