Sobering bit of information from The Foundation for Economic Education:
Socialism Kills More Babies than War
Recent reports that infants now die at a higher rate in Venezuela than in war-torn Syria were, sadly, unsurprising – the results of socialist economics are predictable. Venezuela’s infant mortality rate has actually been above Syria’s since 2008.
The big picture, fortunately, is happier. The global infant mortality rate has plummeted. Even Syria and Venezuela, despite the impact of war and failed policies, saw improvements up to as recently as last year. From 1960 to 2015, Syria’s infant mortality rate fell by 91% and Venezuela’s by 78%. This year, Syria’s rate rose from 11.1 per 1,000 live births to 15.4, while Venezuela’s shot up from 12.9 to 18.6. Meanwhile, infant mortality rates have continued to fall practically everywhere else, and have declined even faster in countries that enjoy more freedom and stability.
Makes a lot of sense. In Syria, there are pitched battles between the warring factions but they tend to let the civilian population alone unless they are using them as human shields (using schools, mosques and hospitals as redoubts). The constant grinding malnutrition and poverty of socialism's end game wears on the mother as well as on the child. Sanitation is also a major factor, Venezuelan's have to leave the country to buy toilet paper and other basic necessities.
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