Iceland best place to live, Africa worst: UN 35 minutes ago
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to an annual U.N. table published on Tuesday that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.
ADVERTISEMENT
Rich free-market countries dominate the top places, with Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland the first five but the United States slipping to 12th place from eighth last year in the U.N. Human Development Index.
But the index, blending 2005 figures for life expectancy, educational levels and real per capita income, finds that all 22 countries falling into its "low human development" category are in sub-Saharan Africa, with Sierra Leone last.
In 10 of these countries, two children in five will not reach the age of 40, said the compilers at the U.N. Development Program. Last year's report said HIV/AIDS had had a "catastrophic effect" on life expectancy in the region.
The index ranks 175 U.N. member countries plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian territories. It does not include 17 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, because of inadequate data.
Norway had held top spot for six years but was edged into second place by Iceland this year because of new life expectancy estimates and updated figures for gross domestic product, or GDP, the report said.
U.N. officials played down the significance of minor short-term shifts in the rankings including the slide in the U.S. position. They said if subsequent data for the year in question been available for last year's report, the United States would have been in 10th, not eighth place.
The United States scores high on real per capita GDP, which at $41,890 is second only to that of Luxembourg ($60,228), but less well on life expectancy -- joint last in the top 26 countries, along with Denmark and South Korea, at 77.9 years.
Japanese have the longest life expectancy -- 82.3 years -- and Zambians the lowest, at 40.5.
The report said most countries had seen their human development index rise over the last 30 years, but in 16 it was lower than in 1990, and in three -- the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- lower than in 1975.
Per capita GDP is 45 times higher in Iceland than in Sierra Leone.
The United Nations has published its human development index every year since 1990.
(Writing by Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations, editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Iceland is a tiny cold place. Africa is a huge continent with a huge variety of life-styles, etc. The U.N. is not a serious source for research on most things. It's staffed by lazy people who enjoy a tax-free income of what amount to sinecure positions.
If Africa were such an undesirable place to live why do so many Europeans leave their countries to spend their retirement years in Africa? And why do the white settlers in Africa in places like Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe still refuse to leave when they could easily move on to places like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, USA, etc.? And why do all those thousands of Lebanese and Indians just refuse to leave when they could easily migrate elsewhere?
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Issues and Recommendations
Concerns about poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa are not new and poverty reduction efforts have been documented fairly extensively. However, this report, Taking Action for Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa, commissioned in 1993 by the Bank's Africa Region differs from others in that it focuses on the Bank's operational program to reduce poverty. It analyses the connections between its poverty assessments, country assistance strategies and the content of the lending program. It also examines actions that the Bank--in partnership with governments and donors--can take to reduce poverty. The report reflects numerous discussions with the Bank's development partners -- Africans, the donor community, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Background Profile of Poverty
On average, 45 to 50 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans live below the poverty line -- a much higher proportion than in any region of the world except South Asia. In 1993, an estimated 40 percent lived on less than a dollar (US) a day. At least 50 percent of these people are from five East African countries and Nigeria. Also, the depth of poverty -- that is, how far incomes fall below the poverty line -- is greater in SSA than anywhere else in the world.
Beyond low income, a principal indicator of poverty is inadequate access to social services. Currently, the availability of social services in most SSA countries is the lowest in the world. The average gross primary school enrollment rate, which declined in many countries in the Sahel during the 1980s, is currently only 67 percent compared with 94 percent for South Asia and 117 percent for East Asia. Health services are falling behind demand in most countries in SSA. This is reflected in an average infant mortality rate of 93 per 1,000, which is higher than South Asia's 84 per 1,000, Latin America's 46 per 1,000 and East Asia's 36 per 1,000.
Economic growth rates
The growth of income in Sub-Saharan Africa during recent years has been dismal. Between 1970 and 1992, average per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by only $73 in relation to purchasing power parity. In contrast, during the same period, South Asia's per capita GDP increased by $420 (2.3 percent per year) and East Asia's by $900 (3.1 percent per year). In 1970, average per capita GDP for these two regions was similar to Africa's.
Causes of Poverty in SSA The consequences of poverty often reinforce its complex causes, exacerbating the problem. The study has identified the following as the main causes of poverty:
Inadequate access to employment opportunities
Inadequate physical assets, such as land and capital, and minimal access by the poor to credit even on a small scale
Inadequate access to the means of supporting rural development in poor regions
Inadequate access to markets where the poor can sell goods and services
Low endowment of human capital
Destruction of natural resources leading to environmental degradation and reduced productivity
Inadequate access to assistance for those living at the margin and those victimized by transitory poverty
Lack of participation; failure to draw the poor into the design of development programs
Identifying the gaps The World Bank's lending program
The study reviewed the Bank's lending program for the fiscal years 1992-97 to determine if it reflected statements that poverty reduction is the Bank's overarching objective. Projects were classified into three categories according to their objectives: enabling growth, broadly-based services and narrowly-targeted services for the poor. This made it possible to examine the effectiveness of poverty assessments, other economic analyses, country assistance strategies and business plans as the basis for designing the Bank's lending programs; assess whether the emphasis of the Bank's lending program for poverty reduction needs to be modified; and identify the actions most likely to reduce poverty.
Of the Bank's lending assistance to African countries in FY92-97, almost 58 percent has been (or will be) focused on creating the enabling conditions for growth through policy
change and large-scale investments. On average, 24 percent was (or will be) for broadly- based services while 18 percent was (or will be) for narrowly-targeted services. This distribution of the Bank's lending program reflects aggregate growth as an end in itself. Increased growth--assuming it generates employment opportunities for the poor--is indeed essential for reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. But preoccupation with growth, particularly if it is not distributed widely, can mean insufficient attention to development of human capital--one of the factors that sustain growth in the long term. At issue, however, is not the distribution of lending among the three broad categories but the extent to which lending in each category benefits the poor.
Strong and logical connections among poverty assessments, country assistance strategy (CASs), and the lending program should form the core of the Bank's operational program to reduce poverty. The study reviewed the influence of country assistance strategies and poverty assessments on lending programs for each country in SSA and reached the following conclusions:
Poverty reduction is rarely a central or motivating theme in the business plan or country assistance strategy, although attention to poverty has improved in recent months.
Even though the operational cycle begins correctly with a poverty assessment, the poverty focus is often lost by the time a lending program is implemented.
Country assistance strategies are generally not specific enough to ensure that the lending program actually addresses the causes and consequences of poverty.
The lending program often changes, and for about three-quarters of the projects, even a tentative outline is not available as little as one year prior to appraisal.
Recommendations To address these concerns and increase its operational emphasis on poverty reduction the Bank must implement four key changes:
Focus clearly and unequivocally on growth and poverty reduction including human capital development.
Make poverty, gender, and environmental issues the heart of macroeconomic and sectoral strategies--not "add-ons".
Arrange to monitor poverty systematically in all countries that receive Bank lending.
Hold management and staff accountable for ensuring the participation of all stakeholders in the formulation of assistance strategies and for achieving the Bank's stated objective of poverty reduction.
Other key messages Achieving high rates of sustained growth is undoubtedly the most important strategy for reducing poverty in Africa. Growth rates of at least 6.5 percent per year are necessary if typical Sub-Saharan countries are to reduce poverty at an acceptable rate. Yet high aggregate growth, in itself, will not reduce poverty. The pattern of growth must benefit the poor, either directly through increased employment and incomes or indirectly through improved social services. The distribution of growth in turn, is critical in determining which groups benefit from expanded employment and income-earning opportunities. Emphasizing growth in agriculture, remote poor regions, or urban slums could improve the extent to which various groups, including and especially the poor, benefit.
Poverty is not likely to be reduced in Sub-Saharan Africa without considerable improvement in government commitment and ownership of programs to support this goal. Yet only a few Sub-Saharan African governments (a quarter of the total number) have explicitly identified poverty reduction as important policy objective in their programs with the Bank.
Discussions with government officials and NGOs on the issue of government commitment have led to three conclusions:
Africans must take the lead in reducing poverty, and donors must accept and facilitate that leadership.
The failure of many African governments to define poverty reduction as their central objective is a major shortcoming. Donors including the Bank, must accept some responsibility for this failure because of their willingness to lend despite the weak commitment of governments to poverty reduction.
Understanding the problems of the poor and their needs, and taking action to improve their circumstances requires the involvement of all stakeholders.
In effect, the study emphasizes the point that poverty reduction is good economics and good politics. It must, therefore, be at the heart of any economic and social development strategy.
Taking Action for Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa: Report of an Africa Region Task Force, Report No. 15575-AFR, May 1996. This report will also be published as part of the World Bank's Development in Practice series. For more information, please contact Jack van Holst Pellekaan, tel. no. (202) 47-34185. Or contact P.C. Mohan, Rm. J3-165, World bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20433, tel. no. (202) 47-34114; Internet address: pmohan@worldbank.org
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Africans leave Africa mainly to earn those overvalued Euros, Dollars and Pounds. Africa is a class-bound society. Those who have some wealth live quite well in strictly material terms. For Africa overall I would put that percentage at around 10-15%. The range is from people who are extremely wealthy to moderately well-off--i.e. own their own modern houses outright(they built them themselves--and often they are quite large) and own their own vehicles outright. Such people, if they are Moslem, have the money($4,000) to make the Haj to Macca. They also have money to send their children to better local schools and when there are ceremonies they have enough money to buy expensive clothing and jewelry.
But the rest of the population struggle by often depending on remittances from relatives abroad.
The point is that if you have the finances you can live very comfortably without the stresses of comparatively well-off persons in the West.
But even so, people who live in rural areas are often not as badly off as is usually thought. There is a trade-off between having the advantage of owning ones own land and livestock(sheep, poultry, goats, cattle) but the disadvantage of not being educated hence capable of only knowing how to farm and grow crops. But people enjoy their community life with its weddings and naming ceremonies, and if Moslem, the different Eids.
Would such people want to stay in Iceland if they were taken there for a visit? I doubt it--if only for the weather which is also a kind of "external economy".
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Sure there are poor people in Africa, but one must be circumspect about those U.N. reports made up by people who approach Africa from a strictly Western development economics--with its meaningless terms like "Living on less than a dollar a day", etc.
In many cases people don't need "a dollar a day" to live--if they live in rural areas. They just harvest from their fields and their flocks--sheep, goats, chickens, etc.
The problem in Africa is mainly one of lack of investment in human capital, low international prices for produce, and the continuing flight of trained capital to the West--all for more money. Example: Nigeria and Ghana have produced lots of medical doctors in their own schools, but a large percentage just leave to get higher salaries in Europe and North America.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Sure there are poor people in Africa, but one must be circumspect about those U.N. reports made up by people who approach Africa from a strictly Western development economics--with its meaningless terms like "Living on less than a dollar a day", etc.
In many cases people don't need "a dollar a day" to live--if they live in rural areas. They just harvest from their fields and their flocks--sheep, goats, chickens, etc.
The problem in Africa is mainly one of lack of investment in human capital, low international prices for produce, and the continuing flight of trained capital to the West--all for more money. Example: Nigeria and Ghana have produced lots of medical doctors in their own schools, but a large percentage just leave to get higher salaries in Europe and North America.
I don't fault the reports and the standards they use to measure progress in Africa, but the real problem is how most of these reports, recommendations, and surveys are seldom used properly, as they were intended. I think the problems in Africa are systemic and can only be solved by massive social programs that offer a fair share of incentives for people to participate in improving their lives. African problems can be addressed by Africans themselves, but the best solutions can come from many sources, including Non-Africans.
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Anthropos: Hey Iceland isn't so bad, except for the weather, high taxes, expensive food and darkness
Not to mention, some of the most photogenic People on earth! I understand that the climate is actually milder than the name of the country seems to imply.
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Glider, And which non-Africans are you referring to? Furthermore, Africans already know what the real and genuine solutions are--except the politicians, the IMF/WB and Western governments.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Issues and Recommendations
Concerns about poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa are not new and poverty reduction efforts have been documented fairly extensively. However, this report, Taking Action for Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa, commissioned in 1993 by the Bank's Africa Region differs from others in that it focuses on the Bank's operational program to reduce poverty. It analyses the connections between its poverty assessments, country assistance strategies and the content of the lending program. It also examines actions that the Bank--in partnership with governments and donors--can take to reduce poverty. The report reflects numerous discussions with the Bank's development partners -- Africans, the donor community, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Background Profile of Poverty
On average, 45 to 50 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans live below the poverty line -- a much higher proportion than in any region of the world except South Asia. In 1993, an estimated 40 percent lived on less than a dollar (US) a day. At least 50 percent of these people are from five East African countries and Nigeria. Also, the depth of poverty -- that is, how far incomes fall below the poverty line -- is greater in SSA than anywhere else in the world.
Beyond low income, a principal indicator of poverty is inadequate access to social services. Currently, the availability of social services in most SSA countries is the lowest in the world. The average gross primary school enrollment rate, which declined in many countries in the Sahel during the 1980s, is currently only 67 percent compared with 94 percent for South Asia and 117 percent for East Asia. Health services are falling behind demand in most countries in SSA. This is reflected in an average infant mortality rate of 93 per 1,000, which is higher than South Asia's 84 per 1,000, Latin America's 46 per 1,000 and East Asia's 36 per 1,000.
Economic growth rates
The growth of income in Sub-Saharan Africa during recent years has been dismal. Between 1970 and 1992, average per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by only $73 in relation to purchasing power parity. In contrast, during the same period, South Asia's per capita GDP increased by $420 (2.3 percent per year) and East Asia's by $900 (3.1 percent per year). In 1970, average per capita GDP for these two regions was similar to Africa's.
Causes of Poverty in SSA The consequences of poverty often reinforce its complex causes, exacerbating the problem. The study has identified the following as the main causes of poverty:
Inadequate access to employment opportunities
Inadequate physical assets, such as land and capital, and minimal access by the poor to credit even on a small scale
Inadequate access to the means of supporting rural development in poor regions
Inadequate access to markets where the poor can sell goods and services
Low endowment of human capital
Destruction of natural resources leading to environmental degradation and reduced productivity
Inadequate access to assistance for those living at the margin and those victimized by transitory poverty
Lack of participation; failure to draw the poor into the design of development programs
Identifying the gaps The World Bank's lending program
The study reviewed the Bank's lending program for the fiscal years 1992-97 to determine if it reflected statements that poverty reduction is the Bank's overarching objective. Projects were classified into three categories according to their objectives: enabling growth, broadly-based services and narrowly-targeted services for the poor. This made it possible to examine the effectiveness of poverty assessments, other economic analyses, country assistance strategies and business plans as the basis for designing the Bank's lending programs; assess whether the emphasis of the Bank's lending program for poverty reduction needs to be modified; and identify the actions most likely to reduce poverty.
Of the Bank's lending assistance to African countries in FY92-97, almost 58 percent has been (or will be) focused on creating the enabling conditions for growth through policy
change and large-scale investments. On average, 24 percent was (or will be) for broadly- based services while 18 percent was (or will be) for narrowly-targeted services. This distribution of the Bank's lending program reflects aggregate growth as an end in itself. Increased growth--assuming it generates employment opportunities for the poor--is indeed essential for reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. But preoccupation with growth, particularly if it is not distributed widely, can mean insufficient attention to development of human capital--one of the factors that sustain growth in the long term. At issue, however, is not the distribution of lending among the three broad categories but the extent to which lending in each category benefits the poor.
Strong and logical connections among poverty assessments, country assistance strategy (CASs), and the lending program should form the core of the Bank's operational program to reduce poverty. The study reviewed the influence of country assistance strategies and poverty assessments on lending programs for each country in SSA and reached the following conclusions:
Poverty reduction is rarely a central or motivating theme in the business plan or country assistance strategy, although attention to poverty has improved in recent months.
Even though the operational cycle begins correctly with a poverty assessment, the poverty focus is often lost by the time a lending program is implemented.
Country assistance strategies are generally not specific enough to ensure that the lending program actually addresses the causes and consequences of poverty.
The lending program often changes, and for about three-quarters of the projects, even a tentative outline is not available as little as one year prior to appraisal.
Recommendations To address these concerns and increase its operational emphasis on poverty reduction the Bank must implement four key changes:
Focus clearly and unequivocally on growth and poverty reduction including human capital development.
Make poverty, gender, and environmental issues the heart of macroeconomic and sectoral strategies--not "add-ons".
Arrange to monitor poverty systematically in all countries that receive Bank lending.
Hold management and staff accountable for ensuring the participation of all stakeholders in the formulation of assistance strategies and for achieving the Bank's stated objective of poverty reduction.
Other key messages Achieving high rates of sustained growth is undoubtedly the most important strategy for reducing poverty in Africa. Growth rates of at least 6.5 percent per year are necessary if typical Sub-Saharan countries are to reduce poverty at an acceptable rate. Yet high aggregate growth, in itself, will not reduce poverty. The pattern of growth must benefit the poor, either directly through increased employment and incomes or indirectly through improved social services. The distribution of growth in turn, is critical in determining which groups benefit from expanded employment and income-earning opportunities. Emphasizing growth in agriculture, remote poor regions, or urban slums could improve the extent to which various groups, including and especially the poor, benefit.
Poverty is not likely to be reduced in Sub-Saharan Africa without considerable improvement in government commitment and ownership of programs to support this goal. Yet only a few Sub-Saharan African governments (a quarter of the total number) have explicitly identified poverty reduction as important policy objective in their programs with the Bank.
Discussions with government officials and NGOs on the issue of government commitment have led to three conclusions:
Africans must take the lead in reducing poverty, and donors must accept and facilitate that leadership.
The failure of many African governments to define poverty reduction as their central objective is a major shortcoming. Donors including the Bank, must accept some responsibility for this failure because of their willingness to lend despite the weak commitment of governments to poverty reduction.
Understanding the problems of the poor and their needs, and taking action to improve their circumstances requires the involvement of all stakeholders.
In effect, the study emphasizes the point that poverty reduction is good economics and good politics. It must, therefore, be at the heart of any economic and social development strategy.
Taking Action for Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa: Report of an Africa Region Task Force, Report No. 15575-AFR, May 1996. This report will also be published as part of the World Bank's Development in Practice series. For more information, please contact Jack van Holst Pellekaan, tel. no. (202) 47-34185. Or contact P.C. Mohan, Rm. J3-165, World bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20433, tel. no. (202) 47-34114; Internet address: pmohan@worldbank.org
Anyone who believes the World Bank is helping eradicate poverty is a FOOL. The World Bank helps CREATE and MAINTAIN poverty through phony "aid" packages which wind up benefiting foreign corporations and SPONSORS of the World Bank than the countries they are supposed to be helping. What do you expect from an institution that is made up of banks in countries that have largely been TAKING MONEY out of Africa and elsewhere for the last few hundred years? Surely, you don't expect them to point at THEMSELVES and all the money that they took as the source of the problem.
Posts: 8890 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by lamin: Glider, And which non-Africans are you referring to? Furthermore, Africans already know what the real and genuine solutions are--except the politicians, the IMF/WB and Western governments.
Even if Africans know the problems and the solutions, it does not mean that things will change anytime soon. Many Africans are impatient and want instantenous fixes, but that is the wrong attitude. The problems as I said before are more SYSTEMIC and need a MARSHALL PLAN for things to actually change for the better.
There is no gain in pointing fingers at OTHERS for all the problems faced by Africans. Best way to deal with the issues is to educate the masses and to distribute the wealth and resources in fair and just system.
Japan, after being defeated by the Allies in WWII, came back from the ashes to become an economic superpower, while spending very little on wasteful military army, weapons, etc. The Japanese goods produced used to be know for their inferior quality, but after they listened to OUTSIDE ADVICE, they began to focus their efforts on improving the quality of their products and in turn gaining acceptance, respect, and increased demand for the goods produced. If only Africans Leaders, would listen and learn from the best advisors from around the world and actually work on solving their nations' systemic problems, things could be a lot better.
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
Nobody is going to bring any kind of "Marshall Plan" to Africa.
Again, African leaders are just self-serving-private pay-offs, etc,-- and wrong when they take the advice of the West.
Note that South Africa has a strong manufacturing base and Nigeria does have some semblance of a manufacturing infrastructure.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Iceland best place to live, Africa worst: UN 35 minutes ago
The dummies can't even tell the difference between a nation and a continent. The good 'ol put Africa in "one basket" case, and turn it into one monolithic polity - essentially a nation - devoid of any sort of diversity population-wise or socio-economic wise.
Everthing about this intro article relates back to something I said elsewhere:
News of progress to whatever degree, and however very uncommon when it comes from Eurocentric media like BBC, is actually refreshing. It is refreshing, only because these outlets rarely paint a rosy picture of the African continent. When the term Africa comes up, it has to do with either conflict, natural disasters or some celebrity figure offering to save Africans. - Mystery Solver.
BTW, wasn't UN forces charged with rape and abuse in the Congo in recent times where they were supposed to be peace-keeping?
Afro-pessimists like to call on how things look dire for the survival of Africans, when in fact African populations couldn't expressing more growth as we speak, not to mention wider spread and faster paced economic progress creeping across the continent in recent times, when those "traditional" rich economies of Europe and America appear to be largely stagnant in their growth.
Yes, there are challenges still facing Africans to varying degrees, depending on where, but Africans are generally a resilient and living-at-ease bunch; for instance think; wonder why it is that suicide rates are higher in many of these so-called traditional 'rich' economies of Europe, USA and Japan than Africa?
Apparently, settler Whites in Africa don't seem to be aware of this "undesirability" of living there. Certainly, the transnational corporations of many of the "traditional" rich economies of Europe and America don't seem to be aware of this "undesirability"; in fact, the oligarchy in these economies seem to whine every now and then about how others, namely the Chinese and "Middle Eastern" investors, are quickly taking note of the 'desirability' of presence in the region.
Japan, after being defeated by the Allies in WWII, came back from the ashes to become an economic superpower, while spending very little on wasteful military army, weapons, etc. The Japanese goods produced used to be know for their inferior quality, but after they listened to OUTSIDE ADVICE, they began to focus their efforts on improving the quality of their products and in turn gaining acceptance, respect, and increased demand for the goods produced. If only Africans Leaders, would listen and learn from the best advisors from around the world and actually work on solving their nations' systemic problems, things could be a lot better. [/QB]
You forgot to mention the U.S. invested heavily into Japan's economy after WWII. Secondly, Japan didn't need to invest in a military because the U.S. was Japan's military. I get your point, but trying to draw parallels between Africa and Japan is unfair and futile.
Posts: 148 | From: Sirius | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:The dummies can't even tell the difference between a nation and a continent. The good 'ol put Africa in "one basket" case, and turn it into one monolithic polity - essentially a nation - devoid of any sort of diversity population-wise or socio-economic wise.
You seem to have not read the article correctly, it does mention which African countries and does name them individually. It just so happens, that there is large number of them in SSA.
quote:
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to an annual U.N. table published on Tuesday that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:The dummies can't even tell the difference between a nation and a continent. The good 'ol put Africa in "one basket" case, and turn it into one monolithic polity - essentially a nation - devoid of any sort of diversity population-wise or socio-economic wise.
You seem to have not read the article correctly, it does mention which African countries and does name them individually. It just so happens, that there is large number of them in SSA.
You've joined the ranks of the people so-described. Tell me, how do you read the following?
Iceland best place to live, Africa worst: UN 35 minutes ago
^Per your own intro post.
Do you know what "Africa" is? Or are you under some twisted impression that I read the above piece wrong? Tell me.
Perhaps, applying a blanket term "Africa" - an entire continent, alongside the name of a single nation - in the heading was a mere fluke?
As a misguided attempt to demonstrate that it is I, rather than him/herself, who can't read, Glider pulls this one out:
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to an annual U.N. table published on Tuesday that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.
^Bizarre emphasis aside, AIDS is essentially a worldwide phenomenon.
What else is new about this article that we haven't become accustomed to hearing about from Eurocentric controlled information outlets.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Iceland #1 Norway Australia Canada Ireland Sweden Switzerland Japan Netherlands France Finland United States Spain Denmark Austria United Kingdom Belgium Luxembourg New Zealand Italy Hong Kong, China (SAR) Germany Israel Greece Singapore Korea (Rep. of) Slovenia Cyprus Portugal Brunei Darussalam Barbados Czech Republic Kuwait Malta Qatar Hungary Poland Argentina United Arab Emirates Chile Bahrain Slovakia Lithuania Estonia Latvia Uruguay Croatia Costa Rica Bahamas Seychelles Cuba Mexico Bulgaria Saint Kitts and Nevis Tonga Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Antigua and Barbuda Oman Trinidad and Tobago Romania Saudi Arabia Panama Malaysia Belarus Mauritius Bosnia and Herzegovina Russian Federation Albania Macedonia, TFYR Brazil Dominica Saint Lucia Kazakhstan Venezuela, RB Colombia Ukraine Samoa (Western) Thailand Dominican Republic Belize China Grenada Armenia Turkey Suriname Jordan Peru Lebanon Ecuador Philippines Tunisia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Fiji Iran, Islamic Rep. of Paraguay Georgia Guyana Azerbaijan Sri Lanka Maldives Jamaica Cape Verde El Salvador Algeria Viet Nam Occupied Palestinian Territories Indonesia Syrian Arab Republic Turkmenistan Nicaragua Moldova Egypt #112 Uzbekistan Mongolia Honduras Kyrgyzstan Bolivia Guatemala Gabon Vanuatu South Africa Tajikistan São Tomé and Principe Botswana Namibia Morocco Equatorial Guinea India Solomon Islands Lao People's Dem. Rep. Cambodia Myanmar Bhutan Comoros Ghana Pakistan Mauritania Lesotho Congo Bangladesh Swaziland Nepal Madagascar Cameroon Papua New Guinea Haiti Sudan Kenya Djibouti Timor-Leste Zimbabwe Togo Yemen Uganda Gambia Senegal Eritrea Nigeria Tanzania (U. Rep. of) Guinea Rwanda Angola Benin Malawi Zambia Côte d'Ivoire Burundi Congo (Dem. Rep. of the) Ethiopia Chad Central African Republic Mozambique Mali Niger Guinea-Bissau Burkina Faso Sierra Leone #177Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:The dummies can't even tell the difference between a nation and a continent. The good 'ol put Africa in "one basket" case, and turn it into one monolithic polity - essentially a nation - devoid of any sort of diversity population-wise or socio-economic wise.
You seem to have not read the article correctly, it does mention which African countries and does name them individually. It just so happens, that there is large number of them in SSA.
You've joined the ranks of the people so-described. Tell me, how do you read the following?
Iceland best place to live, Africa worst: UN 35 minutes ago
^Per your own intro post.
Do you know what "Africa" is? Or are you under some twisted impression that I read the above piece wrong? Tell me.
As a misguided attempt to demonstrate that it is I, rather than him/herself, who can't read, Glider pulls this one out:
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to an annual U.N. table published on Tuesday that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.
^Bizarre emphasis aside, AIDS is essentially a worlwide phenomenon.
The title of the article is a little misleading should have included the name of the actual African country at the bottom of the list. News headlines are always done in such provocative ways, in order to grab attention. But the actual details have not been hidden and if you take the time to read the whole report, you'll see it for yourself.
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
The title of the article is a little misleading should have included the name of the actual African country at the bottom of the list.
A *little* misleading - are you just trying to be lighthearted?
Brings me back to a simple question, apparently so complicated to you that you decided to dodge it:
Perhaps, applying a blanket term "Africa" - an entire continent, alongside the name of a single nation - in the heading was a mere fluke?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
News headlines are always done in such provocative ways, in order to grab attention.
...and so, lying is necessary to grab attention, right?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
But the actual details have not been hidden and if you take the time to read the whole report, you'll see it for yourself.
You damn right the details haven't been hidden, anymore than your chasing of phantom issues is hidden.
If you took the time to read what I was replying to, perhaps you'll have avoided making a total fool out of yourself, and be able to promptly answer this question, instead of dodging it with non-issue distractors:
You've joined the ranks of the people so-described. Tell me, how do you read the following?
Iceland best place to live, Africa worst: UN 35 minutes ago
^Per your own intro post.
Do you know what "Africa" is? Or are you under some twisted impression that I read the above piece wrong? Tell me.
Try again to dodge it.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Do you know what "Africa" is? Or are you under some twisted impression that I read the above piece wrong? Tell me.
Try again to dodge it.
You're just wasting time arguing about the title of an article and trying to AVOID THE ACTUAL FACTS OF THE UN REPORT. Semantics, are not the issue. You should not be a LAZY READER and get hung up on trivial issues.
Ask youself some deep questions, such as: Why are so many African Countries on the bottom of the list and not doing better? These are the critical questions to ponder, not some shallow and trivial details.
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Mystery, Try a little Critical Thinking and you'll see that it actually helps people overcome their inherent tendency to be overly defensive.
quote: Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.
posted
I'm glad for Icelanders' #1 spot, many African countries have been growing at a faster pace than many Western countries that are at the top, again, Africa is getting back on its feet...Glider, isn't it positive?
Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
| IP: Logged |
Do you know what "Africa" is? Or are you under some twisted impression that I read the above piece wrong? Tell me.
Try again to dodge it.
You're just wasting time arguing about the title of an article
Why, because it exposes you for the literacy-challenged personality you are?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
and trying to AVOID THE ACTUAL FACTS OF THE UN REPORT.
Where was this avoided, or are you suffering from your self-convinced ability to read into people's *intentions*?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
Semantics, are not the issue.
So you can't tell the difference between "Africa" and "nation states" of Africa; it is just a matter of semantics to you.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
You should not be a LAZY READER
Good advice, but misplaced; if you weren't such a LAZY READER, you would have paid attention to what it is that I'm replying to.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
and get hung up on trivial issues.
A header that says "Iceland best place to live, Africa worst". In what way is that a trivial issue? Does it have anything to do with your not being African?
What was your agenda behind posting this piece, and what is it about this article that we haven't become accustomed to expecting from Eurocentric-controlled information outlets?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
Ask youself some deep questions, such as: Why are so many African Countries on the bottom of the list and not doing better? These are the critical questions to ponder, not some shallow and trivial details.
Ask yourself this question: why have you not answered any of the simple questions asked of you?
This will be your challenge for the day, if any of your former posts are any indicators, and not some numbed-mind responses to someone else's post that you didn't understand to begin with.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Mystery, Try a little Critical Thinking and you'll see that it actually helps people overcome their inherent tendency to be overly defensive
Glide,
You need to do two things: Learn to read, and ponder what critical thinking means, because you've used neither thus far.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
I'm not going to waste my time with you. If you can't get past the title of the article, that is your personal problem. Don't kill the messenger, because you can't get yourself to deal with the bitter truth.
cheers!
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
You were the one who addressed me, remember? Or are you suffering from amnesia? Yes, that post of yours was in itself waste matter, but my exposure of it as such [as vindicated by your lack of answers] was well worth *my* time.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
If you can't get past the title of the article, that is your personal problem.
Apparently, you made it your personal problem as well, when you decided to take it upon yourself to call me on my reply to that heading. Now that you've been challenged to explain yourself for the failed attempt, it is no longer your personal problem. Yes, I understand.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
Don't kill the messenger, because you can't get yourself to deal with the bitter truth.
Why kill the messenger, when the messenger is doing that him/herself? It is a lot easier to ask questions, and just watch this incompetent messenger kill him/herself as he/she attempts to cherry pick what to address [the non-issues] while avoiding questions being asked of him/her.
What is it about that heading, that strikes you as a "bitter truth"? Of course, you'll never answer that.
Anyway, don't quit your menial daytime job to become a ragtag amateur internet psychiatrist. Cheers. Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Do you know what "Africa" is? Or are you under some twisted impression that I read the above piece wrong? Tell me.
Try again to dodge it.
You're just wasting time arguing about the title of an article and trying to AVOID THE ACTUAL FACTS OF THE UN REPORT. Semantics, are not the issue. You should not be a LAZY READER and get hung up on trivial issues.
Ask youself some deep questions, such as: Why are so many African Countries on the bottom of the list and not doing better? These are the critical questions to ponder, not some shallow and trivial details.
Mystery, Please try to ask meaningful questions and not waste people's time, nit-picking petty and trivial observations. If you want to be an informed reader, you need to actually open the book and start reading the contents. Forget about debating minor details such as the color of the cover, or the few words on the cover. I know many people like yourself are defensive about everything that is written by mainstream International Organizations and people who report the truth, that you can't stand to read about. The other posters, had meaningful questions and I addressed them directly. You're not actually asking a question, but you seem to be trying to avoid the facts, and just defeating yourself by asking an obvious question that does not need to be addressed. I have wasted my time and actually gave you a reasonal explanation, but since you feel like a VICTIM and REFUSE TO ACCEPT the simple and straight forward answer, you can go on CHASING YOUR OWN TAIL IN THE DARK!
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
Apparently, you love wasting your time, because you keep coming back for more humiliation. That's fine with me.
So, asking you to validate your meaningless response to my post is not meaningful in what way?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
and not waste people's time, nit-picking petty and trivial observations.
Aren't you the one guilty of that, when you decided to nit-pick on my reaction to your intro article header with your petty, trivial, baseless and incoherent remark?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
If you want to be an informed reader, you need to actually open the book and start reading the contents.
If you want to be an informed reader, you need to go check with a doctor first, to see if you have the necessary brain cells in place as a first step to opening a book, thereby learning to read, and avoid making a "rear-end" out of yourself, by replying to posts you hardly understand.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
Forget about debating minor details such as the color of the cover, or the few words on the cover.
Why, because you are not intellectually equipped to finish through with requests to explain your meatless call on my comment?
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
I know many people like yourself are defensive about everything that is written by International Organizations
And I know many people like yourself who think that they can trick others into thinking that they exhibit any form of intelligence, by dodging requests and diving into non-issues. They are called trolls.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
and people who report the truth, that you can't stand to read about.
That question in my last post about this so-called truth that you see in this "header" still stands, if you feel that your mind has been activated enough to confront the challenge to answer.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
You're not actually asking a question, but you seem to be trying to avoid the facts, and just defeating yourself by asking an obvious question that does not need to be addressed.
Apparently, you are much dumber than I assumed. So you can't even recognize a question. That explains part of the problem. You also contradict yourself, undoubtedly unwittingly; you claim that I'm not asking questions, and then you acknowledge that I am in fact asking you questions. LOL
If the questions are so obvious, as you say, isn't it all the more defeating that you can't answer them, and how does that reflect on the framer's [of the questions] defeat as opposed to yours?
What facts have been avoided, and according what citation of mine? and how does that make the heading of the article any more truthful and any less significant?
quote:Originally posted by
I have wasted my time and actually gave you a reasonal explanation,
A figment of your imagination. On the contrary, you gave me unreasonable non-sequiturs and non-answers.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
but since you feel like VICTIM and REFUSE TO ACCEPT the simple and straight forward answer,
...of which you have none.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
you can go on CHASING YOUR OWN TAIL IN THE DARK!
...and let you off the hook? How about you keep in check what's coming out of your behind, so that when people ask you to explain yourself, you are prepared to deal with the question.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Try reading this book first, before wasting people's time:
When you have learned how to read and ask intelligent questions, then you can come back and make a meaningful contribution!
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
Try reading this book first, before wasting people's time:
Obviously you failed to understand the title of this book, just as that of your intro article. It says for "Dummies". That would be a call for you.
quote:Originally posted by Glider:
When you have learned how to read and ask intelligent questions, then you can come back and make a meaningful contribution!
Evolution has truely escaped you my friend. The first step for you, would be to stop licking your rear end, and actually *engage* in the advice others are giving you, instead of simply parroting them without having a clue as to what you're repeating after.
BTW Glider,
If you are going to be a parrot, you might as well learn to act like one correctly. Here's another book dedicated to your likes, i.e., "dummies":
posted
This is probably way beyond your scope of comprehension, but I will leave you with a little wisdom that might help you in your remedial studies classes.
quote: A well cultivated critical thinker:
raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely; gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards; thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
Posts: 315 | From: Deep Earth | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Here is why some love to visit Africa - from the Express
BETHAN, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64. They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is “just full of big young boys who like us older girls”. Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex. Allie and Bethan – who both declined to give their full names – said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya's palm-fringed beaches. They would do well to avoid the country's tourism officials. “It's not evil,” said Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, when asked about the practise of older rich women travelling for sex with young Kenyan men. “But it's certainly something we frown upon.” Also, the health risks are stark in a country with an AIDS prevalence of 6.9 per cent. Although condom use can only be guessed at, Julia Davidson, an academic at Nottingham University who writes on sex tourism, said that in the course of her research she had met women who shunned condoms – finding them too “businesslike” for their exotic fantasies. The white beaches of the Indian Ocean coast stretched before the friends as they both walked arm-in-arm with young African men, Allie resting her white haired-head on the shoulder of her companion, a six-foot-four 23-year-old from the Maasai tribe. He wore new sunglasses he said were a gift from her. “We both get something we want – where's the negative?” Allie asked in a bar later, nursing a strong, golden cocktail. She was still wearing her bikini top, having just pulled on a pair of jeans and a necklace of traditional African beads. Bethan sipped the same local drink: a powerful mix of honey, fresh limes and vodka known locally as “Dawa”, or “medicine”. She kept one eye on her date – a 20-year-old playing pool, a red bandana tying back dreadlocks and new-looking sports shoes on his feet. He looked up and came to join her at the table, kissing her, then collecting more coins for the pool game. “Just unwholesome” Grieves-Cook and many hotel managers say they are doing all they can to discourage the practice of older women picking up local boys, arguing it is far from the type of tourism they want to encourage in the east African nation. “The head of a local hoteliers' association told me they have begun taking measures – like refusing guests who want to change from a single to a double room,” Grieves-Cook said. “It's about trying to make those guests feel as uncomfortable as possible ... But it's a fine line.We are 100 per cent against anything illegal, such as prostitution. But it's different with something like this – it's just unwholesome.” These same beaches have long been notorious for attracting another type of sex tourists – those who abuse children. As many as 15,000 girls in four coastal districts –about a third of all 12-18 year-olds girls there – are involved in casual sex for cash, a joint study by Kenya's government and UN children's charity UNICEF reported late last year. Up to 3,000 more girls and boys are in full-time sex work, it said, some paid for the “most horrific and abnormal acts”. “Preying on poverty?” Emerging alongside this black market trade – and obvious in the bars and on the sand once the sun goes down – are thousands of elderly white women hoping for romantic, and legal, encounters with much younger Kenyan men. They go dining at fine restaurants, then dancing, and back to expensive hotel rooms overlooking the coast. “One type of sex tourist attracted the other,” said one manager at a shorefront bar on Mombasa's Bamburi beach. “Old white guys have always come for the younger girls and boys, preying on their poverty ... But these old women followed... they never push the legal age limits, they seem happy just doing what is sneered at in their countries.” Experts say some thrive on the social status and financial power that comes from taking much poorer, younger lovers. “This is what is sold to tourists by tourism companies – a kind of return to a colonial past, where white women are served, serviced, and pampered by black minions,” said Nottinghan University's Davidson. “Live like the rich” Many of the visitors are on the lookout for men like Joseph. Flashing a dazzling smile and built like an Olympic basketball star, the 22-year-old said he has slept with more than 100 white women, most of them 30 years his senior. “When I go into the clubs, those are the only women I look for now,” he told Reuters. “I get to live like the rich mzungus (white people) who come here from rich countries, staying in the best hotels and just having my fun.” At one club, a group of about 25 dancing men – most of them Joseph look-alikes – edge closer and closer to a crowd of more than a dozen white women, all in their autumn years. “It's not love, obviously. I didn't come here looking for a husband,” Bethan said over a pounding beat from the speakers. “It's a social arrangement. I buy him a nice shirt and we go out for dinner. For as long as he stays with me he doesn't pay for anything, and I get what I want – a good time. How is that different from a man buying young girl dinner?”
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
^ Getting back to the topic of this political thread that belongs in the political board, I will say that the comparison the UN made is obviously unfair.
Iceland is a single let alone small nation. "Sub-Saharan" Africa is a large and vast region consisting of many nations. In fact it is a generalization to say that Sub-Saharan nations are AIDS afflicted when not all the countries there even have an AIDS problem like Somalia, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, and Mauritus among several others. At the same time there nations outside of Africa with higher rates of HIV infection than the nations I just mentioned including India, China, Russia and growing rates in Eastern Europe!
This all goes back to the racist mentality of generalizing black African countries and its inhabitants, and socially and psychologically associating (segregating) them all into one big messed up niche (ghetto).
To Glider, your neurosis (one of them) has been duely noted. Posts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
And that UN list is just a lazy rehash of what was passed out some 10 years ago. The positions on the list hardly change--especially the last 50 or so.
I know Sierra Leone very well and I just cannot agree that it's the least viable place to live. Can it be worse off for its ordinary citizens than Peru, Mexico, Paraguay, Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma, Thailand, Kazakstan, Albania, etc. It's just a joke list put out by lazy racists. Inagine, Mexico way up on that list! And Bangladesh!
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
^ Precisely. There seems to be nothing valid about such generalist claims about a vast region as "Sub-Sahara". It is nothing more than black African bashing.
By the way, in some ways and in certain countries (especially in rural parts), are there many places in Sub-Sahara that are actually better than Northwestern Europe in terms of crime including violent crimes such as robbery, rape, and domestic abuse!! Women in these places can walk around by themselves at night without worry of harm. A pity this is not the case in Western nations.
My only question now is what does former secretary-general Kofi Annan have to say about all this?
Posts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: ^ Precisely. There seems to be nothing valid about such generalist claims about a vast region as "Sub-Sahara". It is nothing more than black African bashing.
The article goes futher than that, by calling on the *entire* continent in its header, and it is this blanket bashing that the starter of this thread sought to gloat over when he/she posted the article, but has the nerve to ask why anyone would react to the header. Case in point was when he/she was requested to explain the title; he/she went in all sorts of directions to *defend* it. These *defensive* positions included for example, the notion that the slogan carried by the header is of no importance - i.e., a "trivial" matter, the idea that the title need not reflect truth as long as the body of the article supposedly gave us details to the contrary, or the idea that distortion of reality is justified for the sake of being provacative if for nothing else. At best, it is somewhat entertaining to observe - and note the contradictions therein - someone fight *so hard* to defend something deemed so *trivial* by oneself. So what's the big deal, the starter of the thread asks?! Does "misbranding" ring a bell? The heading of this article leaves little room for doubt about its implicit goal: to be nothing more than being a part of such a covert information compaign. I posted a link pertiinent it earlier; apparently its point was lost on this fellow.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic