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These stats drive me up the wall because the US is more diverse than every single European country. The life expectancy in California is 81 and in Alabama it’s
by AbrahamParangi 3y ago
These stats drive me up the wall because the US is more diverse than every single European country. The life expectancy in California is 81 and in Alabama it’s 74. That’s the difference between the UK and like, Latvia.
This matters because when you look at these crude aggregate stats, people naively assume that it means that everything is a bit worse but the actual American story is usually more like broad prosperity with some truly awful outcomes for anyone who falls through the (very wide) cracks.
- bjornasm 3y agoWhat a weird way of framing it. The USA is compared with EU, so it doesn't matter if USA is more diverse than single european countries. As you point out, EU is also very diverse.
- EGreg 3y agoBut EU is more diverse than any single US state! So like... nyeh
- ajross 3y agoSurely the point was that the difference between internal regions of the EU and USA are much higher than that between the averages. Someone worried about lifespan in either would do much better to look at local outcomes and the reasons for them (c.f. figuring out why Latvia lags the France, or what's wrong in Alabama that Massachusetts is so far ahead) than it is to dither over what the people across the ocean are doing.
- ffhhttt 3y agothese oversimplified averages don’t really reflect anyone’s actual situation either
- ChatGTP 3y agoHave you been to Europe? It's really diverse.
- failuser 3y agoEU has a bunch of states that have been in the Soviet Block not so long ago, even 3 countries from the USSR. This is way more diverse than USA at least as far as the economics go.
- lionkor 3y ago> more diverse than every single European country by what metric?
- ffhhttt 3y agoAre you ready doubting whether the US as whole are more diverse than any single European country?
- pzo 3y agoWhat's the point of comparing all US states to single European country? The same it doesn't make sense to compare all EU countries to single US state.
- waffleiron 3y agoYes, that's a very US centric view. There are European countries, such as France and the Netherlands that have overseas territories and generally are quite diverse. Or Belgium with three official languages, where you can walk 10 km and suddenly most people speak another language. The US as a whole might be more diverse than a single EU country, but it will depend a lot on your metric for diversity.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lionkor 3y agoNo, im asking by which metric.
- zooi 3y agoThe stats comparison is of the US and the whole of Europe. The difference between states is big but you go on to say that it's as big as the difference between two European countries. Your comparison only points out Europe is as least as diverse as the US and still has a significantly higher life expectancy.
- arp242 3y ago> These stats drive me up the wall because the US is more diverse than every single European country. Are you seriously to claim that the EU is a single country? Or that there are no differences between EU countries? That link actually has a table of all EU countries, and it ranges from 72 to 83. This is actually a LARGER difference than in the US: where it ranges from 74 to 82. You need to read what's actually being said before climbing up the walls.