Ok, which indicators would you like to look at? Peter Leeson, from the Dept of Economics at West Virginia University did some research and published a paper.

Ok, which indicators would you like to look at? Peter Leeson, from the Dept of Economics at West Virginia University did some research and published a paper. Here's a link: http://www.peterleeson.com/Better_off_Stateless.pdf http://www.peterleeson.com/Better_off_Stateless.pdf This paper compares several indicators between the current situation and the time when they had a government. Live expectancy is up. Physicians per 100,000 is up. Infant mortality is down dramatically, and the percentage with low birth weight is down dramatically. Sanitation, access to health facilities are both improved. Extreme poverty has declined. Radio ownership is up dramatically, as is Telephones and Television. Adult Literacy and School enrollment are both down, but given the rise in private schools I suspect this might be due to the way the data is collected. The same thing can be said about all the other statistics, as they always should bear some analysis. But I don't think it is the slam dunk that it is popularly assumed. From the paper: "The data depict a country with severe problems, but one which is clearly doing better under statelessness than it was under government. Of the 18 development indicators, 14 show unambiguous improvement under anarchy. Life expectancy is higher today than was in the last years of government’s existence; infant mortality has improved 24 percent; maternal mortality has fallen over 30 percent; infants with low birth weight has fallen more than 15 percentage points; access to health facilities has increased more than 25 percentage points; access to sanitation has risen eight percentage points; extreme poverty has plummeted nearly 20 percentage points; one year olds fully immunized for TB has grown nearly 20 percentage points, and for measles has increased ten; fatalities due to measles have dropped 30 percent; and the prevalence of TVs, radios, and telephones has jumped between 3 and 25 times." and: "Importantly, the indicators in Table 1 also do not measure the substantial increase in personal freedoms and civil liberties enjoyed by Somalis since the emergence of anarchy. The Somali government ruthlessly suppressed free speech, censoring newspapers, radio and television. Most forms of free expression were punishable by death and foreign travel was severely restricted. Today, in contrast, Somalis are free to travel as they please (restricted only by governments of other nations) and enjoy greater freedom of expression, both privately and publicly. 20 private newspapers, 12 radio and television stations, and several Internet sites now provide information to the Somali public (Freedom House 2005). Satellite-based televisions enable the transmission of international news services, including CNN (Little 2003: 170-171). Authorities in Somaliland and Puntland have attempted to interfere with media providers in their territories, but freedom of expression remains improved compared to its status under government. This constitutes an additional important, though unmeasured, increase in Somali welfare under anarchy." On the education issue: "Only two of the 18 development indicators in Table 1 show a clear welfare decline under stateless: adult literacy and combined gross school enrollment. Given that foreign aid was completely financing education in Somalia pre-1991, it is not surprising that there has been some fall in school enrollment and literacy. This is less a statement about the Somali government’s ability to generate welfare enhancing outcomes for its citizens than it is a reflection of foreign aid poured into Somali education by the international development community before government collapsed.9"