China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data

Re:China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data by abhiminator on Thursday May 31, 2018 @02:41AM (#17194407)

They deserve every bit of praise considering the fact that China was known as the 'land of famine' for majority of its history [0] -- having suffered their last major famine in the 1960s [1], that's just 60 years ago -- a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. The turnaround is truly impressive for a country the size of China. Makes one wonder about the power of free markets in lifting huge segments of the population from immense poverty.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines_in_China [1] http://www.sacu.org/greatleapfamine.html

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Re:China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data by oblio on Thursday May 31, 2018 @08:21AM (#17195741)

> Makes one wonder about the power of free markets in lifting huge segments of the population from immense poverty.

One would argue that it was a market economy with heavy state interventions. I'm not sure I'd call that a "free market".

But then again, I think a "free market" is a purely theoretical concept that only serves as a rough outline in real life, it has no practical application.

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Re:China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data by eitally on Thursday May 31, 2018 @08:43AM (#17195840)

I think that was the point. It has absolutely not been a free market (compared-ish to the US economy) and overall it's worked wonders at the macro level, whether you're looking at QoL, infrastructure, business conditions, education, or most other measures I can think of besides privacy and human rights.

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Re:China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data by boomboomsubban on Thursday May 31, 2018 @07:29AM (#17195520)

If you look at that list, you could also argue the free market caused the death of around a hundred million people.

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