Communism Part 2: By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

Communism is practiced openly in just a handful of nations today, namely China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, and Laos. Since Communism purports to bring such things as prosperity, literacy, equality to its people, I thought I would take just a little time to research how these nations compare with the rest of the world and post the stats here for all to enjoy.

Standard of living – 2008

(U.S. - number 15)
Cuba – number 48
China – number 94
Vietnam – number 114
Laos – number 133

North Korea – didn’t report its numbers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

Literacy Rankings - 2005

North Korea – 9
Cuba – 23
(U.S. – 23)
China – 48
Vietnam – 50
Laos – 101

http://www.photius.com/rankings/population/literacy_total_2005_0.html

Gender Equality - 2008

(a ranking of 89 is highest, 29 is lowest)

(U.S. – 75, behind 18 other countries)
Vietnam – 71, behind 37 other countries
Cuba – 70, behind 45 other countries
China – 69, behind 55 other countries

North Korea and Laos unranked, over 150 nations ranked

http://www.socialwatch.org/en/avancesyRetrocesos/IEG_2008/tablas/valoresdelIEG2008.htm

Health Care Systems - 2000

(U.S. – 37)
Cuba – 39
China – 144
Vietnam – 160
Laos – 165
North Korea – 167

http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

Global Competitive Index - 2008-2009

(U.S. – 1)
China – 30
Vietnam – 70

Cuba, North Korea, and Laos unranked (134 countries included in the ranking)

http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm

Political Terror Index – 2007

China – 4 out of 5 (Amnesty International)
North Korea – 4 out of 5 (Amnesty International& U.S. State Dept)
Laos – 3 out of 5 (U.S. State Dept)
Vietnam – 3 out of 5 (U.S. State Dept)
Cuba -- 3 out of 5 (Amnesty International& U.S. State Dept)

Interestingly, the United States ranked at a 1 (little or no political terror) until 2001, and is now currently ranked by Amnesty International at a 3, presumably because of the tortures and renditions of "war criminals", etc…

A ranking of a 4 means: Civil and political rights violations have expanded to large numbers of the population. Murders, disappearances, and torture are a common part of life. In spite of its generality, on this level terror affects those who interest themselves in politics or ideas.

A ranking of a 3 means: There is extensive political imprisonment, or a recent history of such imprisonment. Execution or other political murders and brutality may be common. Unlimited detention, with or without a trial, for political views is accepted.

http://www.politicalterrorscale.org/countries.php


Lastly, I wanted to take a look at death in the 20th Century to see if I could find some reasonably accurate numbers tallying the deaths associated with Communism. I came across an incredible website and found the following interesting stats:

- Roughly 4,126,000,000 people died during the 20th century from all causes. If 185 million of these deaths were man-made, then one out of every 22 (or 4.5%) deaths during the 20th Century have been caused by fellow humans.

- Of these 185 million man-made deaths, a full 92 million deaths were caused by Communists -- that's almost half!!

Here's the Breakdown of 20th Century Deaths due to Communists:

• Genocide & Tyranny: 44 million (including intentional famine)

• Man-made Famine: 37 million (excluding intentional famine -- ie., including only famines due to government negligence and economic miscalculation as opposed to a desire to kill its populace)

• Communist-inspired War (for example the Russian Civil War, Vietnam, Korea, etc.)
- Military: 5 million
-Civilian: 6 million

The remaining 96 million non-natural deaths in the 20th Century took place in wars, massacres, slaughters, and oppressions not related to Communism.

A quick side note -- only 3.5 million people died from natural disasters in the 20th Century

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm

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More to come . . .