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I'm so sick of these articles: 1- poverty is defined differently in each country 2- so is infant mortality 3- so is life expectancy (who gets included isn't

I'm so sick of these articles: 1- poverty is defined differently in each country 2- so is infant mortality 3- so is life expectancy (who gets included isn't the same) 4- social justice issues have no clear definition 5- some of these stats aren't even quantifyable, such as hygiene. ... How much is a percentage of obesity worth? As much as percent of GDP? Or why isn't the number of top 100 universities accounted for? can keep going and going... These are political rankings given the veneer of rigor because they have numbers attached to them. The UN Sustainable Development Goals are just busy work for the Social Justice Warriors with nothing else to do but make up yet another meaningless utopian index. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

pmontra 10y ago
Some indicators could be subjective but how can infant mortality and life expectancy be defined differently in different countries?
- jnordwick 10y ago
  Who is "born" is defined different depending on which country. E.g., most European countries will not count premature babies if they don't make certain weight or other metrics and no attempt to intervene, so this sets up some really perverse incentives. These can make up more than 3 out of every 4 premature births so it can significantly tilt the stats: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/276952/infant-mortality-deceptive-statistic-scott-w-atlas http://www.nationalreview.com/article/276952/infant-mortalit... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality
  - richmarr 10y ago
    > ... most European countries will not count premature babies if they don't make certain weight Factually incorrect, as shown by your own link which lists 6 countries that have weight/gestation thresholds. Or maybe there are less than 12 countries in Europe, who the hell cares, right?
    - jnordwick 10y ago
      You trimmed the rest of the sentence that said "or other metrics" that would include things like weeks premature. That clearly changes the meaning the sentence. But that's a minor thing when you are playing a game of Gotha, isn't it.
      - richmarr 10y ago
        > ...That clearly changes the meaning the sentence If you look at my reply I talk about gestation period. Only 6 European countries have thresholds for either gestation or weight. You can accuse me of playing "gotcha" if you like, but you're misrepresenting data and it's fair for me to correct you. [Edited for typo]
- ploxiln 10y ago
  > However, the method of calculating IMR often varies widely between countries, and is based on how they define a live birth and how many premature infants are born in the country. > Many countries, however, including certain European states (e.g. France) and Japan, only count as live births cases where an infant breathes at birth, which makes their reported IMR numbers somewhat lower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality#Differences_in_measurement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality#Differences_i... edit: other response is admittedly a lot better

pmontra 10y ago

Some indicators could be subjective but how can infant mortality and life expectancy be defined differently in different countries?

jnordwick 10y ago
Who is "born" is defined different depending on which country. E.g., most European countries will not count premature babies if they don't make certain weight or other metrics and no attempt to intervene, so this sets up some really perverse incentives. These can make up more than 3 out of every 4 premature births so it can significantly tilt the stats: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/276952/infant-mortality-deceptive-statistic-scott-w-atlas http://www.nationalreview.com/article/276952/infant-mortalit... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality
- richmarr 10y ago
  > ... most European countries will not count premature babies if they don't make certain weight Factually incorrect, as shown by your own link which lists 6 countries that have weight/gestation thresholds. Or maybe there are less than 12 countries in Europe, who the hell cares, right?
  - jnordwick 10y ago
    You trimmed the rest of the sentence that said "or other metrics" that would include things like weeks premature. That clearly changes the meaning the sentence. But that's a minor thing when you are playing a game of Gotha, isn't it.
    - richmarr 10y ago
      > ...That clearly changes the meaning the sentence If you look at my reply I talk about gestation period. Only 6 European countries have thresholds for either gestation or weight. You can accuse me of playing "gotcha" if you like, but you're misrepresenting data and it's fair for me to correct you. [Edited for typo]
ploxiln 10y ago
> However, the method of calculating IMR often varies widely between countries, and is based on how they define a live birth and how many premature infants are born in the country. > Many countries, however, including certain European states (e.g. France) and Japan, only count as live births cases where an infant breathes at birth, which makes their reported IMR numbers somewhat lower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality#Differences_in_measurement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality#Differences_i... edit: other response is admittedly a lot better