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Originally Posted by highthief
So, the list is invalid because the USA is not ranked higher?
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A few weeks ago it was published that for the first time in about 50 years the UK has a higher standard of living than the US.
The factors used didn't take into account purchasing power, which is far greater in the US. So while based on their criteria the US has a lower standard of living than the UK, I'd also call it invalid.
No I'm saying its not necessarily valid as they weigh whats important according to what THEY feel is important. I'd also be willing to bet that all the information was not gathered independently by the group but they rely on internal government sources, something communists are not well known for keeping accurate. The Soviet Union often claimed they had better access to health care and more doctors per person than in the US, yet their facilities were horrible and their doctors were incompetent by western standards.
By looking a bit more closely at how they get the HDI, its life expectancy, literacy, education enrollment, and GDP.
Cuba scores #2 in literacy #32 in life expectancy, #35 in education and 94 in GDP.
So they have people in their state run schools, a high literacy rate (#1 was Georgia where apparently no one is illiterate), decent life expectancy and poor on the GDP.
Combined it really doesn't mean that much as freedom, human rights, the quality of the education etc isn't taken into account.
I won't argue they are worthless numbers as a composite but they don't mean a whole heck of a lot either.
Even at face value, it means 3 of the countries in the region are 'better', 4 if you count the United States, not 1 like you said.