A Lesson in Fact Checking

In the wake of the American elections there have been a slew of political posts. Some of them are good. Some are bad. Some are really ignorant. I admit, everyone has the right to their views. I will keep mine out of this because it is an American election, not a Canadian election. However, I would like to point out the importance of checking your facts before posting a political message. Just today this message appeared on my Facebook stream:

Right away my brain was going, "Well what about peaceful Christian countries? Are there any of those?" And because I wasn't sure I checked my facts!

Here is some of the data from the 2012 Global Peace Index:

Country	2012 GPI rank
Iceland	1
Denmark	2
New Zealand	2
Canada	4
Japan	5
Austria	6
Ireland	6
Slovenia	8
Finland	9
Switzerland	10
Belgium	11
Qatar	12
Czech Republic	13
Sweden	14
Germany	15

Note Qatar, a country that according to the CIA World Factbook is 77.5% Muslim. Where is the United States? I scrolled down, and down, and down and then I saw it:

United States

88

Not only was the United States number 88 on the list but you should see some of the countries that have a better peace ranking than it. (Some are Muslim countries, but others are just... well... surprising!) Take a look!

Korea, South

42

United Arab Emirates	46
Kuwait	47

Oman

59

Serbia	64
Bosnia and Herzegovina	65

Cuba

70

There were also a ton of very poor African countries, but this was just a taste!

So for the list of peaceful Muslim countries? You might want to add:

1. Qatar
2. United Arab Emirates
3. Kuwait
4. Oman

Especially if you are comparing them to the USA. I was curious still... how do these countries compare to the USA in other ways?

I went to aneki.com and did their country comparison for Qatar and the USA:

Country
Qatar	United States
Leader
Emir: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah Al Thani	President: Barack Obama
Population
1,951,591	313,847,465
Life Expectancy
78.090 years	78.490 years
Human Development Index
0.899	0.95
GDP per capita
$104,300 US	$49,000 US
Literacy Rate
89%	99%
Corruption Perception Index
6.5	7.3
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0%	16.6%
Unemployment Rate
0.400%	9.000%
Death Penalty
Legal	Legal

Political System
emirate	Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
Religions
Muslim 77.5%, Christian 8.5%, other 14% (2004 census)	Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
Languages
Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language	English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
Exports
liquefied natural gas (LNG), petroleum products, fertilizers, steel	agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%, industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%, capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%, consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0% (2003)
External Debt
$125,300,000,000 $	$14,710,000,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Qatari rials (QAR) per US dollar - 3.64 (2008 est.), 3.64 (2007), 3.64 (2006), 3.64 (2005), 3.64 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
10.000%	4.060%
Location
Middle East, peninsula bordering the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia	North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico

I also compared the USA and Oman for good measure:

Country
United States	Oman
Leader
President: Barack Obama	Sultan, prime minister, foreign minister: Qaboos Bin Said Al Said
Population
313,847,465	3,090,150
Life Expectancy
78.490 years	74.470 years
Human Development Index
0.95	0.839
GDP per capita
$49,000 US	$26,900 US
Literacy Rate
99%	81.4%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3	5.5
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.6%	9.1%
Unemployment Rate
9.000%	15.000%
Death Penalty
Legal	Legal

Political System
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition	monarchy
Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)	Ibadhi Muslim 75%, other (includes Sunni Muslim, Shi'a Muslim, Hindu) 25%
Languages
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii	Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects
Exports
agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%, industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%, capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%, consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0% (2003)	petroleum, reexports, fish, metals, textiles
External Debt
$14,710,000,000,000 $	$9,054,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
	Omani rials (OMR) per US dollar - 0.3845 (2008 est.), 0.3845 (2007), 0.3845 (2006), 0.3845 (2005), 0.3845 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
4.060%	11.400%
Location
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico	Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Persian Gulf, between Yemen and UAE

So you will see, if you check your facts it would stop a lot of the hate and prevent a lot of wars between countries around the world. When it comes down to it the facts show we are not that different!