So, you thought the U.S. had the record for obesity, well think again!
Nauru has got it beat! and that's not the only record that Nauru holds.
It's the only Nation that doesn't have a capital city,
It's the only country that imports 100% of its food,
It's the most environmentally damaged country,
It has the highest rate of smokers,
it has the highest rate of type 2 diabetes,
It's the third smallest country on earth,
and it has one of the highest rates of drunk driving, but only has 30 kilometers of road.
but how did this country get so bad?
and why is it that we have never heard of it before?
In the early 1900's it was discovered that the island of Nauru was (almost in its entirety) phosphate land.
Phosphates were needed for fertilization and therefore a highly sort after resource.
By the 1970s, 35 million tonnes of phosphates had been removed from Nauru,
over a third of its land had been strip-mined,
and its population of around 10,000 people had become incredibly rich.
Nauru was now the second-richest country in the world!
So rich, that its people stopped working and just began spending.
They imported expensive foods, and went on extravagant holidays,
they bought sports cars, cruise ships, and hotels overseas.
They even built an airport!
with 7 aircraft!
for 10,000 people!
that's like Stanford University students having their own airport!
One police chief even imported a Lamborghini only to discover that he was too fat to fit behind the wheel!
Unfortunately, Nauru was so intent on living in the moment that they forgot to plan for the future.
By the 1990s, Nauru's phosphate reserves were almost depleted,
nearly 90% of its land mass had been destroyed,
and the country was close to bankruptcy.
Since the phosphate reserves were nearly gone, the country had no source of income and therefore had to accept Australian handouts (In exchange for retaining over 1000 asylum seekers in an immigration detention camp).
Since all of Nauru's trees, and most of its vegetation were gone, Nauru no longer had fresh water reserves and could no longer produce its own food, so they built a desalination plant to supply fresh water and imported cheap processed food from Australia
Today, Nauru has extremely high rates of alcoholism, child mortality, and poor mental health.
It has insufficient healthcare and a poor educational system
The lack of work and the diet of cheap processed foods has left over 70% of the Nauruan people with obesity, and over 40% with type 2 diabetes.
The sad irony is that the phosphates obtained from the mining that killed the country's ecosystem are used to improve the texture, taste, and sustainability of the cheap processed foods that are killing its population.
Nauru's land was pillaged by Germany, the U.K., Australia, Japan, and the Naruan themselves.
It has been a WWII military air base, an offshore tax haven, a money laundering paradise, and a refugee detainment center.
Nauru's history is a political, environmental, social, and economic disaster,
it's a testament to the evils that can arise with capitalist society and therefore, it's the western world's "Dirty Little Secret".
Get more Tips here! [ Ссылка ]
