Georgia is South Korea
Love is barbecue and Kia automobiles aren’t the only things Georgia and South Korea have in common.
I’ve always been struck by the similarities between Georgia and South Korea. Always.
Georgia once hosted the Summer Olympics. So did South Korea.
Georgia is resentful of the north. So is South Korea.
Georgia has several excellent Korean restaurants. So does South Korea.
So it was no surprise when I learned today Georgia and South Korea have a nearly identical HDI score.
The HDI, or Human Development Index, is used by the United Nations Development Program to quantify a country’s development by combining statistics on life expectancy, literacy, education levels, and GDP.
The super blog The Map Scroll applied the UN’s HDI’s criteria to each of the 50 U.S. states.
The results are interesting.
Some U.S. states rank as high as perennial quality-of-life superstars Australia, Sweden and the Netherlands. They’re the dark green states.
Other states, mainly clustered in Appalachia and the former Confederacy, are no better-off than Kazakhstan. They’re the light green states.
Georgia is somewhere in the middle — nearly tied with South Korea.
Its makes sense to me.
Not too long ago, Georgia was a poverty-stricken shithole. The state’s HDI has rise above its neighbors thanks to a solid half-century of rapid economic growth. We’re not quite Maryland yet, but we ain’t Mississippi.
In that sense, Georgia is also like South Korea. 50 years ago, South Korea was a war-beaten dirtpile. Today it boasts the second most advanced economy in Asia. It ain’t quite France, nor is it Burma.
Incidentally, if you eyeball the shading on the above map you might notice its resemblance to another map: the red-n-blue U.S. presidential electoral college map.
Almost without exception, the states with the highest HDIs (the darkest green states on the HDI map) voted for Obama.
And the states with the lowest HDIs (the lightest green states on the HDI map) voted McCain.
The only exception I notice is Alaska, home state of McCain’s running mate.
(Hat-tip to Richard Florida, who is subbing for Andrew Sullivan this week.)