1. HDI is not wealth, it's only one factor out of like 5+, nominal GDP per capita best measures wealth.
2. That's not a myth. Almost everyone knows the best regions of Spain and N. Italy are richer than east Germany, I haven't seen one person claim otherwise.
What in the world are you even looking at? Scandinavian data isn't even there. Even when looking at the OP's post, that is simply wrong. S. Europe has inflated HDI because you guys live longer, Mediterannean diet and less drinking(literally, LE is one of the factors of HDI).
From Germanic regions outside of East Germany, there are only 7(out of 74)poorer than Basque country, and 26(out of 112) if you count England, but England overall is richer than Basque country. The number only slightly rises if you compare to Madrid, but capitals should only be compared to other capitals.
Madrid: 33.8k
Berlin: 37.9k(64.7k for Germany's richest big city, Hamburg)
Brussels: 65k
Copenhagen: 65.9k
Amsterdam: 56.3k
Wien: 50k
Stockholm: 64.7k
London: 62.8k
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/docume...6-cc6665909c80
Not to mention this is ignoring stuff like government debt(which does increase GDP and spending), of which Spain has much more of than all Germanic countries, and the amount of minorities, of which Spain has the least of.
At most you can say it doesn't follow genetics that Basque country is richer than a lot of France and England, but again, as a whole, France and England are still richer than Basque country, let alone Spain as a whole. I'm not even calling Spain a shithole, it is a first world, extremely developed country(although I don't consider Southern Italy/Greece to be first world), and imo after adjusting for debt northern Iberia is probably richer than N. Italy, but get your facts straight.
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