Western Europe is incredibly rich in culture from rich cuisine (French cuisine is divine and Im going to include Portuguese cuisine too) to traditional festivals still being held. In eastern European cultures, there is an emphasis on family and community life. Even the Catholic Church held a different view from the eastern church. Max Weber Fellow in Social and Political Sciences, European University Institute. What countries make up Eastern Europe? The Czech Republic acted very late, for example, imposing stricter measures at the end of October, even though cases and deaths had been soaring upwards during the month. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7s6piXiFK-TaMDsKM4I7IS7iaNiyONEM, How Geography Shaped Africa | Thomas Sowell, Why Cultures Are So Different? For this reason, the economic situation is not uniform across the region. 8. They vary from culture to language, religion, and even government systems. He has a Masters in Education, and a Bachelors in Physics. The highest point in Eastern Europe is Mount Elbrus, which stands at 5642 meters high. Being dominated for centuries has led to lingering inequality and long-lasting effects in many formerly colonized . South Asian Countries | Religion, Culture & Countries List. 4. Caltech's Philip Hoffman, the Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics and professor of history, has a new explanation: the advancement of gunpowder technology. TOP 10 why is eastern europe poor BEST and NEWEST Some of the countries that fall under this category are United Kingdom, Norway, Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Vatican City, Netherlands, Sweden, Malta, Italy, Iceland, Germany, Greece, Finland, etc. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. Historically, the culture of Eastern Europe has been closely linked to the history of the rest of the continent. I received my bachelor's degree in history from George Washington University and later earned a master's degree in the same subject from Uppsala University in Sweden. | Thomas Sowell. Also economically, the Western European countries are much more advanced than the eastern European countries. Where Eastern Europe begins, however, is a matter of opinion. Eastern Europe is a term that typically refers to the countries in Eastern and Central Europe, which includes Russia. Well, it depends on the parameters. Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute has put together some apples-to-apples data suggesting the answer is no. When it's easier to travel and grow food, it's easier to sell the food at a greater. 7. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you Great work Dr. Sowell. For example, differences in economic strength could explain why the relatively richer Czech Republic waited to reintroduce restrictions (thinking it could bear the brunt of a high number of infections), but this doesnt account for the relatively poorer Romanias decision to do the same. Before World War II, there were large pockets of German speakers scattered throughout parts of Western Europe. There are many different religions practiced in eastern European countries, including Christianity and Islam. Mountain ranges - Urals, Apls, Musala (Tallest Mountain range in the region, located in Bulgaria), Carpathians, Balkan Mountains, Rivers - Volga, Danube (longest), Dnieper, Oder, Don. Eastern Europe has a total population of about 258 million people. As always, excellently explained to be easily understood. 2023 Sowell.org. It started after I gave an undergraduate here a book to read about gunpowder technology, how it was invented in China and used in Japan and Southeast Asia, and how the Europeans got very good at using it, which fed into their successful conquests. 2. Difference Between Coronavirus and Cold Symptoms, Difference Between Coronavirus and Influenza, Difference Between Coronavirus and Covid 19, Difference Between Motorola Droid Bionic and Droid HD, Difference Between Coherence and Consistency, What is the Difference Between PEP and PrEP, What is the Difference Between Syphilis and Chancroid, What is the Difference Between Open and Closed Mitosis, What is the Difference Between Typical and Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia, What is the Difference Between Menactra and Menveo, What is the Difference Between Soft Skills and Technical Skills, What is the Difference Between Idiopathic Hypersomnia and Narcolepsy. Were Gaining Vitality on Key Measures, 60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care, Gender pay gap in U.S. hasnt changed much in two decades. What are the Five Themes of Geography? With so much diversity within this region, its easy to see why people from around the globe flock here every year. They are found in their highest numbers in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Albania. Both had one factor significantly holding them back: foreign invaders. Electoral politics could explain the reluctance of the two countries to enter another lockdown with politicians seeing it as an unpopular measure that would also delay elections. Unofficial site of Thomas Sowell, Why is Eastern Europe Poorer than Western Europe? 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Or, that when Europeans began to travel the world, people in other countries did not have the immunity to fight off the diseases they brought with them. She has a Master's degree in History. You have been on the Caltech faculty for more than 30 years. Today, both Judaism and the Yiddish language are scarce in this part of the world. 20 Reasons Why Eastern Europe Is Extremely Underrated (And - TheTravel if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'questionscity_com-box-4','ezslot_1',110,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-questionscity_com-box-4-0'); Eastern Europe has a rich history with many cultures and languages. Five of the six states in the former East Germany with the exception of the city-state of Berlin had lower per-capita productivity in 2018 than the West German state with the lowest per-capita productivity, Schleswig-Holstein. Bohemia (Czech lands) was one of the biggest and most developed economic centers of the Holy Roman Empire. One big factor that's important to the advancement of any defense technology is how much money a political leader can spend. Eastern Europe is a geographical term that refers to the easternmost countries of Europe. why is eastern europe less developed The division of the Roman Empire occurred partially as a result of economic differences. Over the years I've been interested in a number of different things, and this new work puts together a lot of bits of my research. Make sure to familiarize yourself with our rules and guidelines before participating. Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. England in 1800 was the richest country in the world, but the population lived in terrible poverty), Easter Europe always got the brunt of the migrant waves for almost all of recorded history, it didn't really begin to stabilize until the 900s so it had some catching up to do. Why is Eastern Europe Historically Poorer than Western Europe? - reddit Germans in both areas say living standards in the former East have not yet caught up with those in the former West. Make a list of at least fifteen countries that are part of Eastern Europe. But exploring Soviet-era Eastern Europe is not even half the story. | Thomas Sowell, What Makes Coastal People So Different? Monotheism Overview & Examples | What is Monotheistic Religion? This has helped them recover from the damage done during their communist past. Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms. For example, how did states get the ability to impose heavy taxes? The reformation gave way to more literacy, the Protestant work ethic, which resulted in rapid advances in the sciences and technology. They have distinct cultures, languages, traditions, and cuisine. I love that I get smarter everytime I listen to or read anything from Thomas Sowell. And all of this describes Europe. People in the former East Germany are also less optimistic than their counterparts in the former West on a variety of measures, including whether children today will grow up to be better off financially than their parents. Differences Between Eastern And Western Europe - QuestionsCity My idea incorporates the model of a contest or a tournament where your odds of winning are higher if you spend more resources on fighting. Almost all the Muslims who live in Eastern Europe belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. Their situation relative to Western Europe has not become better 70 years after WWII. I wrote previouslythat many European nations are doomed bydemographics tofiscal chaos, but a lot of people dont care that much about the future. It also boasts some of the richest economies in the world with Germany being one of those countries at its forefront. The former East has a much smaller population than the former West (about 16 million people, compared with about 67 million), but its productivity is also lower when adjusted for population differences. All findings are based on data from the German governments 2019 report, as well as the Centers recent survey. why is eastern europe poorer than western europe? 7. And while 7.5% of East Germans ages 55 to 64 were unemployed in 2018, the share was 5.3% among West Germans in the same age range. In 2018, the average unemployment rate was 6.9% in the six states of the former East Germany, compared with 4.8% in the 10 states of the former West Germany. The Eastern European area bore the brunt of the Asian invasions too as first the Huns, then Avars, Slavs, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Mongols, and Turks all swept into the Balkans, Carpathian Basin, and the lands between the Black and Baltic seas each time wiping out native political powers. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. Daily new COVID-19 deaths per million inhabitants, eastern and western Europe. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'questionscity_com-banner-1','ezslot_10',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-questionscity_com-banner-1-0'); Western Europe has been characterized by its diversity as well as its commitment to democracy and human rights. People in the former East Germany earn less than their counterparts in the former West. Create a poster, chart, or some other type of graphic organizer that lists and provides statistics for the religions of Eastern Europe. - Definition & Laws, What Is Medicare? The rest of Europe at that time was really no wealthier than China, the Middle East, or South Asia. It was politically weak, it was poor, and the major long-distance commerce was a slave trade led by Vikings. | Thomas Sowell Author: www.youtube.com Post date: 21 yesterday Rating: 3 (1898 reviews) Highest rating: 3 Low rated: 2 Summary: 3. This is interesting because it shows that the wealth divide between Eastern and Western Europe existed long before the modern era. The Mongols ravaged and destroyed the entirety of the Rus' land for centuries while making the Rus' their slaves. Why is Eastern Europe less developed than Western Europe? The governments report points to several possible factors for the worse economic conditions in East Germany, including the lack of major companies headquartered there. Luckily, this blog post will help you to understand some of the differences between these two parts of Europe. By the way, the economy in some eastern European countries (Poland, Romania and Hungary) is relatively close to the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese or Scandinavian countries economy. There are over 500 different languages spoken in the region of eastern Europe. Authors compilation. 3. Most of the countries in Eastern Europe, including Romania, were never part of the Soviet Union. Constantinople is now the city of Istanbul in Turkey, and the greatest church of the Eastern Orthodox faith, the Hagia Sophia, is located there. Why are post-communist states still much poorer than Western Europe Why are countries in eastern Europe poorer than in western Europe? Generally speaking, Slavic languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet are found in countries that practice the Eastern Orthodox faith. Politics might provide a hint: the Czech Republic held regional elections in October, while Romania voted in local elections in September and is about to vote in national elections in December. Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language that is distantly related to Finnish and Estonian. Eastern Europe: Most people follow Orthodox Christianity or Islam. Paris was this little walled fortress town, and Constantinople was so large it needed its own governor. Hungarian, Romanian, Albanian, Roma, and Turkish are the three Eastern European languages that are not Slavic. We spoke with him recently about his research interests and what led him to study this particular topic. However, people in both areas work hard with about 40 hours per week spent working (the same amount). Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. When you go back that far, you need to use to use a proxy for human capital. Why Did Western Europe Dominate the Globe? Romania is probably the most unusual country in this region. This tool measures the stringency of efforts to control the virus on a scale of 0-100, with 100 being the most restrictive. So more spending would not only mean greater odds of victory over an enemy, but more rapid change in military technology. They were subjugated by, at war with, or were the front lines and battlefields of the austrian wars against the Ottomans for four and a half centuries. Through this article, let us examine the differences further. 6. You'll still need to back up the peace with armed forces, but you won't actually fight all that much, and that's a much better outcome. It can be further subdivided into four sub-regions: Northern Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southern Europe. At least if the goal is more economic output and higher living standards. Because at close to the end of WWII Stalin was fed up waiting for the ever delaying Normandy landing, wanted making peace with Hitler, and go home to carry on building communism. Just take any economic, social map and overlay it with the iron curtain map and you will understand what it's actually about. Despite substantial improvements in recent decades, the former East Germany continues to trail the former West Germany on important economic measures ranging from unemployment to productivity, according to an annual German government report on the status of German unity. (The most recent version of the report, from September, is available here in German. Map of the spread of Catholicism and the Eastern orthodox faith. This is probably the biggest reason I prefer Eastern Europe over Western Europe. The Western Roman Empire was poorer. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. All of the countries of Western and Northern Europe are very close to the ocean, and largely surrounded by it. I dont have a policy lesson here: simply an observation that the United Kingdom has one really rich region (Greater London) and quite few relatively poor regions. Eastern Europe was praised for being exceptional during the first wave of the pandemic. This set Russia back quite a bit in a number of ways. Central and East Europe were simply geographically unfortunate as wave after wave of immigrants and invaders moved through the region from China and were stopped before they made it into W Europe. Russias GDP per capita (PPP) was $14,900 as of 2018. Disease can't explain, for example, the colonization of India, because people in southeast Asia had the same immunity to disease that the Europeans did. The Hagia Sophia is now a mosque. One explanation might be that these countries are victims of their own success. When examining the culture and society of the countries of Eastern Europe, a clear difference can be seen in family structures. 9. Western Europe has the most Nobel Prize, winners. Among people ages 15 to 24, for example, the average unemployment rate in the former East Germany was 7.7% in 2018, compared with 4.1% in the former West. The four major religions in Eastern Europe are the Eastern Orthodox faith, Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism. 2.Standard of living in Britain was usually poor, Probably OP refers the wealth of the States, not the standard of living of the population (e.g. These countries have several different borders with Russia, as well as other European nations such as Germany or Poland. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. This is perhaps one reason why startup teams in Western Europe are much smaller than in Eastern Europe. The spending on war gave leaders a chance to try out new weapons, new armed ships, and new tactics, and to learn from mistakes on the battlefield. Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Bulgarians, Serbs, and a few others are traditionally Orthodox Christians. The most common language spoken is Russian, followed by Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian and Bulgarian. In the early 2000s, the unemployment rate was about 10 percentage points higher in the former East than in the former West nearly five times the gap in 2018. What made you turn to the idea of gunpowder technology as an explanation? Although they may seem like completely different worlds at first glance, there are some striking similarities between eastern and western European countries that can help travelers decide where to go on vacation or which country to live in after college graduation. An important factor was also the raids of nomads from the steppes, ravaged Eastern Europe. This is why Eastern Europe, in general, is poorer than countries in Western, Central, and Northern Europe. Write an essay of approximately one to two paragraphs that explains the Soviet Union's influence on certain countries of Eastern Europe. The key difference between Western and Eastern Europe is that the name Eastern Europe is used to refer to all European countries that were previously ruled by communist regimes while the name Western Europe refers to the more economically stable and developed Western countries. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The longest river in the region is the Danube. On average, Eastern Europeans live longer than western Europeans because they smoke fewer cigarettes and drink less alcohol on average. Then you can bargain with your enemies to divvy up whatever you disagree about and you can have something like peace. This One Major Factor Makes Germany Richer Than Italy. Central American Countries & Facts | People, Tribes & Culture of Central America, Central America Geography | Map, Physical Features & Examples, Physical & Human Features of Europe | Mapping the Features of Europe, Comparing Life in Different Locations in Europe, Latin America | Population, Ethnic Groups & Demographics, Physical Features of Russia & Central Asia | Map, Characteristics & Geography, Where is Latin America? Europe Climate Zones & Classifications | What Is the Climate In Europe? Gunpowder was really important for conquering territory; it allows a small number of people to exercise a lot of influence. The reason . However, unlike other Latin people, Romanians belong to the Eastern Orthodox faith, and unlike almost all other Eastern Orthodox countries, Romanians use the Latin alphabet. The key difference between Western and Eastern Europe is that Eastern Europe consists of countries that once belonged to the Soviet block, unlike the Western European countries. However, over the past 20 years, most of the nations of Eastern Europe have joined the European Union. Why is the Eastern Europe Poorer than the Western Europe?There are many reasons, the main ones are : location (Western Europe discovered new lands, Eastern Europe faced nomads), religion, the ottomans and the communism. what does cupid want to control; best tattoo shops in alabama; why is eastern europe poorer than western europe? These differences between eastern and western Europe will help you understand the magnitude of these differences better than before.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'questionscity_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_5',109,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-questionscity_com-medrectangle-4-0'); Western and Eastern Europe are on opposite sides of the continent. Very hard for a country to be doing well after all those struggles. It severely inhibited political and economic development. One thing is clear: eastern Europe exited the first wave at the end of June in much better shape than western Europe. There is a very important ocean . Western European countries are generally considered to include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland (Republic of), Italy(although it could also be grouped with Central/Eastern European nations), Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Those improvements can help at times when wars are necessaryfor instance, when we are fighting against enemies with whom we cannot negotiate. Coronavirus: why is eastern Europe's second wave so much worse than its And if you prefer direct measures of living standards, then data on consumption from the OECD also shows that America is considerably more prosperous. I'm thinking the USSR isn't the reason why the non-Balkan east is poor, so from a wider historical perspective, what's the real reason? Serbia was especially rich in mineral wealth and with trade from Adriatic to Aegean during the Middle Ages. - Definition & Process, Largest Revenue Sources for the Federal Government, What Do Archaeologists Study? 2. All rights reserved. That percentage has changed little in recent years, but is far higher than in 1991, when per-capita disposable income in the former East was only 61% of that in the former West. By comparison, disposable income in the former West Germany was 23,283 a year, or about $26,300. Bohemia and Hungary were also quite powerful, and only the Russian states could be considered poor. Its fascinating how different these two worlds are, but it also shows us that we should not be afraid to embrace our unique qualities as individuals or communities if they lead to sustainable growth and innovationsomething both regions could stand for! 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Poland and eastern europe (as well as parts of Germany) did not have the higher level of urbanism at this time as in comparison with some Celtic Gallic settlements, which were in many ways already integrated into the Roman trade network in the case of southern Gaul. Love Sowell. And Im debunking the argument that we should copy nations such as Denmark by allowing a larger government in the United States (though I do want to copy Danish policies in other areas, which generally are more pro-economic liberty than what we have in America). I'd given it to him because the use of this technology is related to politics and fiscal systems and taxes, and as he was reading it, he noted that the book did not give the ultimate cause of why Europe in particular was so successful. I think the main reason is that Europe is . That being said, Ireland and the United Kingdom have the most economic freedom among EU nations, andSwitzerland would be at the top if the choice was broadened to non-EU nations in Europe. Speaking of European prosperity, heres a fascinating map I saw on Twitter. Both regions have different economic structures and political systems. Feeding the YouTube algorithm. Heres another map, concentrating just on Northern Europe. Germany has a higher percentage of its population living in urban areas than any other European Union member state. Both regions have a history of being ruled by powerful empires that brought change to the area. Oxford COVID-19 government response tracker, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. The Polish Lithuanian commonwealth was extremely powerful and wealthy by controling the rivers and by extension farmland and trade between Baltic and Black Seas. A head start in the first wave. Around three-quarters of people in the former East Germany (74%) and around two-thirds of those in the former West (66%) say the East still has not achieved the same living standards as the West, according to the Centers recent survey, which was conducted among representative samples of adults in both areas as part of a larger study of Europe.