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Almost all of the countries in Eurasia rank lower than most European nations on the Social Progress Index (SPI). Some have relatively strong foundations for nutrition, basicmedical care, and education, but they are weaker in areas concerning personal rights. Even with nutrition and medical care being fairly sound, the countries in this region do not score well when it comes to overall health and wellness. Eurasia as a whole has a higher SPI ranking than Africa and South and Central Asia, but it is lower than South America, Central America, and North America. Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Eurasia. When the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed in 1991, Moldova became an independent republic. It has high foreign debt and high unemployment. The average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is just $4,521. Compare that to the United States, where GDP per capita is about $53,000. The country, however, overperforms on the SPI. Even though this is a relatively new country, it benefits from systems set up under the Soviet Union, especially education and basic health services. The economy of Russia relies heavily on oil and gas, so when world prices go down, as they have over the past few years, the economy of Russia sinks as well. The 2016 Index of Economic Freedom reported that “Russia’s prospects for long-term, diversified, sustainable economic growth remain bleak. There is no efficiently functioning legal framework, and government continues to interfere in the private sector through myriad state-owned enterprises. Corruption pervades the economy and continues to erode trust in the government.” Russia also has a poor environmental record. In 2015, the Moscow Times wrote that the country’s environmental problems date back to “breakneck Soviet industrialization in the early 20th century, when whole regions were blighted in

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