Leaving socialism for markets lined up with well-being gains, author argues
Poland, Romania, China, and India, which moved from socialist or closed systems toward markets, gained on life expectancy, schooling, and income, while the scores for Venezuela and Cuba declined.
The Daily Signal · Capitalism Improves Human Lives, Socialism Does the OppositeFrom 2010 to 2023, Poland, Romania, China, and India raised their scores on the United Nations Human Development Index, while the scores for Venezuela and Cuba fell. The piece's author reads that split as support for the argument that moving from socialist or closed systems toward markets lines up with better well-being. The index itself tracks only outcomes and cannot prove what caused them.
The index is a broader gauge than income alone. It blends life expectancy at birth, schooling for children and adults, and gross national income per person, and it covers more than 180 countries.
In that period, the index grew an average of 1.16% per year in India, 0.89% in China, 0.47% in Poland, and 0.21% in Romania. The average across countries was 0.52% per year.
Venezuela's score fell by 0.57% per year and Cuba's score fell by 0.21% per year.
Questions people ask
Are such small annual percentages a big deal?
Yes, because they compound over 13 years and reflect slow-moving things like lifespan and schooling. At 1.16% per year, India's score rises about 16% over the period, while a 0.57% annual decline leaves Venezuela roughly 7% lower. For measures tied to how long people live and how long children stay in school, those are meaningful shifts.
Why compare these six countries?
The author groups Poland and Romania, which left Soviet-style systems around 1990, with China, which began market reforms in the early 1980s, and India, which liberalized trade in the early 1990s. Venezuela and Cuba are offered as the contrast because they kept avowedly socialist policies. The selection reflects the author's argument, not a finding of the index itself.