Country Comparison

Interconnections Name: Institution: Introduction There are a myriad of factors that define how well a country is doing and by extension, how it is graded within the two classes of income, that is, the low income and the high income countries classes. All the factors that define the country into these classes are highly interconnected, to form cycles and webs of fundamental relationships. This paper will only sample two of these countries, which are one from each of the classes. In this case Saudi Arabia will be compared to Haiti, on different levels that are basically the characteristics that make these two unique and different from one another (World Bank, 2013). Saudi Arabia Within the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia covers around two thirds, which is roughly two million kilometers squared. Vast amount of its lands are covered by desert and semi arid areas, as such rivers and lake inside the lands are very rare. Although most it is plains, there are plateaus and mountains. This geography, therefore limits the kind of wild life found here, to those that can with stand the harsh climate. Politically this country follows the Islamic law to the letter, which does not allow formation of political parties mainly because it is a monarch in its entirety (Index Mundi, 2013). Saudi Arabia traditions and cultural practices have spread through the ages along the Arab and Islam orientation. They hold a very strict set of cultural values and most of them are actually spelt out in their legal framework. Aspects like the freedom of expression are foreign to this country, as they are against their Islamic faith (Index Mundi, 2013). Topics that are deemed to expose the country indecently, such as acts of human trafficking, roles of women, social and natural disasters cannot be deeply discussed (World Bank, 2013). The media is closely controlled by the government, as such, the entertainment content that is aired by the media stations, video games , movies, books and other media platforms have to be thoroughly checked for immorality and offences that are political before they get to the masses. In this country there are no labor movements and even though there are legal organizations, their powers are quite limited to the extent that they cannot easily influence the policies that the government has set in place. Even the music that is played in this country is regulated by their faith, where only traditional folk dances which do not have musical instruments like the guitar. Religion is the central piece of this nation, which is categorically Islamic. As such the dress dictates that all persons must wear clothes that conceal their bodies. Demographical, Saudi Arabia has a population of roughly 30 million and five out of this are not nationals. The majority foreigners are mostly from India, Pakistan and Egypt. This number is set to drop as the government through the ministry of labor, has put a cap on foreigners at 20% of the total population. The high population figures are partly because the life expectancy has steadily risen through the years (World Bank, 2013). In the 60s life expectancy was at 44 years, then rose to 62 years in the 80s, by 2000 it was on the 71 year mark, today it is at around 75 years. Contrary to the life expectancy, the fertility rate has been dipping in the opposite direction. In the 60-80s it was at 7 births per woman, by 2000 it was at 4 births per woman, while today it is dipping further towards 2 births per woman. There is a close relation with the mortality rate, as during the 60s it was at 180, then 60 on average in the 80s, while today it is dipping towards 10. As the largest petroleum exporter the world over, the economy of this country has seriously grown over the 90s to date. As of today, their economic budget operates at a surplus of not less than 30 billion. As such they have been able to offer education free of charge at all levels, even though the education is natured by Islamic laws, which may change in the near future. This has highly contributed to very high literacy levels, which is also linked to the large number of education and research facilities (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Haiti Haiti on the other hand is not as well up as Saudi Arabia is, this country is still struggling with lots of problems of varying magnitudes (Info Please, 2013). Unlike Saudi Arabia, Haiti is geographically situated along the west of the Hispaniola, as an island, second largest in size within the Antilles, covering an area of about twenty seven thousand kilometers squared. The land is rich with geographical features unlike Saudi Arabia that is mainly plains. The southern part of Haiti is particularly mountainous and with valleys, that harbors rivers and lakes (National geographic, 2013). As such, parts of Haiti are covered in forests, but there have been a lot of deforestation activities, which has led to desertification in some of the areas, reducing the number of wild animals in its wake. The land lies on fault system which contri...