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Which countries would you say have improved the most over the last twenty years?
Here are some candidates:
Croatia/Bosnia/Serbia
The Balkans Wars that ravaged them in the 90's are over, and those countries are a lot more peaceful, prosperous and stable, with the former even having been admitted to the EU a few years ago.
Albania
As well as to some extent having suffered the spillover from the Kosovo conflict, internally it was grossly mismanaged in the 90's, especially regarding its pyramid moneymaking schemes. While still one of Europe's poorest and most corrupt nations, it is nowhere near as bad as then.
Chile
Once synonymous with the brutal Pinochet dictatorship, which although didn't kill that many people is believed to have been rivalled only by Pol Pot's Cambodia (see below) in having the world's worst record for torture during the 1970's, Chile is now one of the most stable, prosperous and democratic nations in Latin America.
Colombia
The Cali and Medellin drug cartels are gone, the Civil War is mostly over, the crime rate is now lower than in many other Latin American countries, and it is rivalled only by Chile (see above) in being the South American country most friendly to foreign investment.
Sierra Leone
In the late nineties/early noughties, it had an exceptionally brutal Civil War, which was notorious for rebel groups hacking off children's arms. Now, however, it is a pretty peaceful and quiet nation, although the ebola outbreaks in 2012 and 2014 have set back progress to a extent.
Angola
The Civil War, which lasted from 1975 to 2002, is now over, most of the landmines have been cleared and its oil industry is booming.
Mozambique
Like Angola, it had a Civil War practically since the day it gained independence from Portugal in 1975, albeit its Civil War ended nine years before the Angolan one. Now has a booming tourist industry and its mining industry is also growing.
Rwanda
In 1994, it had the fastest genocide in human history, when over a period of 100 days Hutu interahamwe militias slaughtered tens of thousands of Tutsis with machetes. Now, however, notwithstanding the creeping authoritarianism of Paul Kagame's regime, it is pretty peaceful with a fast-growing economy.
Uganda
Probably one of the most unfortunate countries in Africa (and that takes a lot of doing) - as well as having Idi Amin, whose notorious Afro-fascist regime murdered and expelled Europeans, South Asians, political dissidents and people from rival Black African ethnic groups, it also had Milton Obote, who ruled Uganda from 1968-71 when Amin overthrew him, as well as from 1979-89 when he in turn overthrew Amin thanks to a Tanzanian invasion, and went onto kill even more people than Amin did! Now, however, it is mostly quite safe with booming tourism and mining industries.
Ethiopia
Another deeply unfortunate country in Africa. Until 1971, it was ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie, who lorded it over the country and achieved only a 3% literacy rate. He was then overthrown in a Soviet/Cuban-backed coup by Mengistu Haile Mariam, who although achieved some good things in terms of literacy and healthcare, went on to slaughter 100,000 opponents of his regime in the "Red Terror" and was partly responsible for the 1980's mass famines as a way of getting rid of rival political and ethnic groups. Nowadays, however, it has one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, is mostly safe except for some border regions, and Ethiopian Airlines is Africa's biggest and most successful airline.
Sri Lanka
The country's 25 year-long Civil War came to a decisive end in 2009, when the Sinhalese government defeated the Tamil Tigers once and for all. Now it welcomes lots of tourists and has one of Asia's fastest-growing service sectors.
Cambodia
Is there anything these poor souls haven't had to endure? Saturation bombing by the US, the Khmer Rouge bloodbath which killed off around a quarter of the population through a mixture of disease, starvation and most of all execution, the Vietnamese invasion whose subsequent puppet regime itself killed tens of thiusands of people and triggered the Khmer Rouge to carry out a guerrilla war for decades, for years it had the world's highest number of landmines except for Angola (see above). Now, however, it is mostly pretty safe, welcomes lots of tourists and has a rapidly-growing manufacturing and textiles sector.
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Originally Posted by Ercüment Çizer
Zimbabwe
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