Taylor+S

=Statistics= USA || $47,200.00 || 36.9 years || 78.37 years || 99% || 2.06 children born/woman ||
 * = Country || Income Per Capita || Median Age || Life Expectancy || Literacy Rate || Total Fertility Rate ||
 * = Baseline
 * = Italy || $30,500.00 || 43.5 years || 81.7 years || 98.4% || 1.39 children born/woman ||
 * = Costa Rica || $11,300.00 || 28.8 years || 77.72 years || 94.7% || 1.93 children born/woman ||
 * = India || $3,500.00 || 26.2 years || 66.8 years || 61% || 2.62 children born/woman ||
 * = Zimbabwe || $500 || 18.3 years || 49.64 years || 90.7% || 3.63 children born/woman ||

=High Income Living Conditions:= Primary Source: [|http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212302/italy.html#] Secondary Source: Person Researched:Mario

Story/Description: Mario is a young boy in Italy, in between the ages of 6 and 11. He lives in Palermo which is located in Sicily. He explains that he is currently in what is called primary school, and from there he will move on to a junior high school, and eventually high school. From what he says, the system of schooling sounds very similar to what we have here in the United States. As well it sounds as if Mario's family is extremely close and they enjoy dinners together. Mario enjoys playing soccer and watching formula 1 racing. In his extra time, he enjoys fishing which is one of his hobbies.

Paragraph Analysis: Italy, which is my high income country contains much of the same living conditions as the U.S. This of course, is expected although the income per capita is still significantly less, about 17,000 dollars. I also noticed that the life expectancy is much higher than any other countries I've researched including the United States. My personal explanation or thoughts toward this is that perhaps the way of life is simpler in Italy, than the United States. It seems that it is rare for anyone to just take time to enjoy others company or just relax in the U.S. In my opinion, it seems that taking time out of the day to specifically sit down as a family and enjoy dinner, or "lunch" is extremely important to Italians. This would most likely cause less stress, and lighten the mood, potentially causing less wear and tear on their bodies, thus resulting in longer lives for the citizens living in Italy.

=Middle-Upper Income Living Conditions:= Primary Source: [] Secondary Source: Person Researched:Tim

Story/Description:Tim is a full time resident of Costa Rica. He is unfortunately middle aged and not a teenager, but provides an explanation of what life is like as a legitimate resident, not a tourist. He explains that life in Costa Rica varies significantly based on each family, each town, each person, and each situation. There are areas of Costa Rica that contain wealthy, middle class, and unfortunately very poor people. He also explains that one thing that makes Costa Rica so unique is that it is possible to live a simple, but happy life for little money. Money is not essential as in other parts of the world. The country which sits right near the equator, is very tropical and contains clear water, along with lovely rain forests.It is a very beautiful place to live.

Paragraph Analysis: Costa Rica is unfortunately another country whose wealth is extremely diverse. As previously stated, there are certainly areas and people that are wealthy, unfortunately it seems to be a trend that these people are not usually native, but moved there because of its tropical setting. The majority of the population falls into the middle class to poor ranges with most leaning towards poor. This again, is a result of the lack of opportunities for schooling for the children. If the children do not have the opportunity to go to school, get an education and get a reasonably paying job, they will end up working a small farm, producing food for themselves and small amounts to sell for profit. It is sort of a never ending circle that many have trouble finding their way out of. Because of the many poor people in Costa Rica, their life expectancy, as well as per capita income is affected as well.

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=Middle-Lower Income Living Conditions:= Primary Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212302/india.html Secondary Source: Person Researched:Rajasthan

Story/Description:Rajasthan is an eight year old boy who lives in urban India. He is one of the more fortunate kids in his country. He explains that he enjoys any type of food that is spicy. As well, he enjoys going to dances for fun and hanging out with his friends. He has many of the same interests as a young boy in the United States. However, he is cogniscent that the rest of his country isn't quite as lucky as himself. Over two thirds of the country does not know how to read or write, he is part of the one third that does know how to do both. His mother may not even know how to read and write. This is largely a result of the unequal opportunities given to children as far as schooling. Many of the children that can not read or write have never been given the opportunity to go to school because of where they live or their family situations.

Paragraph Analysis: In conclusion, Rajasthan is a great example of the minority of India's population. In some areas, India is very similar to the U.S., it has become modern and has a high standard of living. However, in most rural areas, school is just not an option for the children living there, they will grow up to be farmers or work hard strictly in manual labor. This explains why the life expectancy and income per capita is fairly low. India is improving at a very fast rate, but they still have a tremendous poverty issue, primarily due to inequal opportunities to their people.

=Lower Income Living Conditions:= Primary Source: Secondary Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/11/zimbabwe-secret-film Person Researched:Sam Chakaipa

Story/Description: Sam Chakaipa returned to his native country, Zimbabwe, to visit his former home and village. The conditions have become horrific. Inflation has caused the Zimbabwean dollar to amount to nothing, resulting in the currency becoming physical gold. Everyday, teenagers, and middle aged people pan the muddy river banks for any gold they can find. Food is scarce, resulting in families disbanding, and children being forced to eat rats, trash among other unhealthy and unsanitary things. The children can no longer go to school, instead they scavenge for food in order to survive. Many of the "houses" are not houses at all, merely huts constructed of old cardboard boxes, dirt, and straw.

Paragraph Analysis: It now becomes clear why Zimbabwe's life expectancy is much shorter than the other countries I am researching. The living conditions are so terrible, that you are essentially living in the wild. There is no grocery store, no restaurants, no readily available source of food. Any food that is available for purchase is too expensive to buy. In order to survive, you must be able to work hard for gold, work hard to find food. As one becomes older in this country they are unable to do physically work as hard as necessary and they end up dying of starvation or malnutrition

=Conclusion:= After researching each of these countries, it becomes clear how well people in the U.S. and western countries in general have it compared to other parts of the world. In some cases, it is not the simple idea that once you achieve wealth, success is imminent. In fact, in India, Zimbabwe, and even Costa Rica the goal is to survive. You work extremely hard, often physical labor just to survive. The things we take for granted, electricity, cell phones, TV, cars, air conditioning, isn't even dreamed of in the poorest parts of these countries. As we move up in the range of per capita income however, the trend is that the quality of life increases. Italy was certainly most similar to life in the United States, but still had a per capita income that was 17,000 dollars less. It would be interesting to investigate why. In conclusion, the people in the countries who are poor, often work jobs that involve difficult manual labor. This in turn takes a toll on the body, decreasing the life expectancy. In more educated countries, people make more money, resulting in less physical stress on the body and life expectancy increasing.