
02 Nov 2011, 14:30
Which Warsaw pact country had the highest standard of living, and which had the lowest? What do you think accounted for these differences among the Eastern bloc states?

02 Nov 2011, 17:53
I don't have anything specific at hand, but the general consensus is East Germany was the most developed, with Hungarians being pretty well off as well.

02 Nov 2011, 19:28
One way we could go by is the UN's Human Development Index. It calculates 'human development' based on three factors: Life Expectancy, Education (adult literacy and gross enrollment), and GDP. The earliest statistics I can find online are from 1990.
130 countries ranked, with the 130th the most developed (in this case Japan with 0.996). An index of 1 would be perfect.
The GDR ranks 110th with 0.953
Czechoslovakia ranks 106th with 0.931
The USSR is 105th with 0.920
Bulgaria is 104th with 0.918
Hungary is 101st with 0.915
Yugoslavia is 100th with 0.913
Poland is 98th with 0.910
Romania is 90th with 0.863
For some comparison:
Canada is 126th with 0.983
The Federal Republic of Germany is 119th with 0.967
The USA is ranked 112th, with 0.961
Cuba is 92nd with 0.877

02 Nov 2011, 19:30
The GDR and Czechoslovakia were by far the most comfortable countries in the Eastern Bloc.

09 Nov 2011, 18:15
I wouldn't say Czechoslovakia was a more restrictive place than USSR or GDR. The StB was not as pervarsive as the Stasi and the limit on persons who can go to holidays abroad applied only to Yugoslavia, not other Eastern Bloc countries. In the USSR people had to have permission even if the country they wanted to travel to was in the Eastern Bloc, hell, there was even barbed wire on the borders between USSR and Czechoslovakia. I know that USSR was far from a shithole but in the CSSR, people generally more pitied, not hated Soviets, at least that's what I know from my relatives, because they knew they were much better off. And when it comes to media.... well, I think the fact that my father has LPs pressed in CSSR of Western bands like Van Halen, Steve Miller Band, Jennifer Rush, Beatles ... says all. And we even had a domestic metal band, Citron! (And it was not an underground ban, I've got an LP pressed by the state recording firm Opus from them).
Hungary was still better through.
I haven't lived under communism, but I've talked to my parents, grandparents and older acquitances about it. I'm from Slovakia

21 Nov 2011, 19:18
Well, and when it comes to worst living standards, Romania is the clear "winner" here.

22 Nov 2011, 02:56
The UN's HDI figures from 1990 have Albania in 84th, with 0.790; just on the cusp of being listed as one of the countries with "high human development".

07 Dec 2011, 22:34
My mum and dad went to a vacation to High Tatras in the 80s...They told me that it was possible for ordinary Yugoslav students to sleep in the best hotels,eat the finest available foods with golden spoons and really behave like rich people do.
On the other hand several times i've heard how Czechoslovak tourists were usually very poor and ,for example,had to order just mineral water in cafes and such because they didn't have much money to spend...
Do you know more about this perhaps?