Quote Originally Posted by Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas View Post
Ireland has historically been one of the poorest countries in Europe for as long as we can remember, so it is quite extraordinary indeed. Same with Finland, the region has always been poor and desolate historically, less than a hundred years ago Portugal (which was a poor country too) was sending humanitarian aid to them.
Well the HDI does have its limitations: it solely measures GNI per capita, life expectancy and number of years spent in education, whereas it largely ignores other factors such as transport and infrastructure. Furthermore, re the Ireland-Wales comparison: if a quarter of Wales' population moved to Cardiff than its HDI would shoot up too, due to the improvements in income and probably education levels. (Not saying they'd reach Ireland's level, but the gap would certainly be somewhat smaller). What's more, many Irish people historically migrated to Wales to work in the coal mines and factories. Conversely, despite the wealth gap, I am not aware of many Welsh people migrating to Ireland nowadays.