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“Reuse Things”: 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones

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Contrary to what many billionaires probably tell themselves, being wealthy doesn’t necessarily make you brilliant. And we should all be open to learning new ways of doing things, even if those methods have actually been around for centuries!

Reddit users have recently been discussing things that low-income nations do much better than affluent countries, so we’ve gathered some of their most insightful responses below. From working together as a community to minimizing waste, be sure to upvote the replies you agree with, and don’t hesitate to take a few notes from these clever countries!

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#1

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Reuse things.

So many things get fixed, recycled and repurposed.

fastfrank001 , Erik (HASH) Hersman (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

106points

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#2

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Not letting any food go to waste

hernan_782 , Boca Dorada (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

88points

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#3

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Work as a community.

bigwidefrog , theamaria (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

79points

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#4

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Food, almost every 'poor' country (not a phrase i like) i've visited has had a far healthier relationship with their food, not just the quality of the food but also the way they treat meal times, even though many people have less food.

Its generalising but in poorer countries food is much more communual, the quality of the raw ingredients is far better, the time taken to prepare meals is different etc.

Obviously in some richer countries like France/Spain/Italy they also have a good food culture.

But if you look at places like the UK/US the quality of the food has deterioriated so badly over the last 50 years, people see eating meals as a chore to grind out and they want the least hassle highest fat/sugar/carb options they can get.

I've been to India, parts of the Middle East, parts of South America and their relationship with food is just completely different to how things are in the UK

WolvoNeil , Quang Nguyen Vinh (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

71points

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#5

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Speaking as an American, healthcare.

My gf had to fly to a third world country to get dental care for a fraction of the cost and the same quality of care. Her dentist here even admitted the work was very well done. That’s pretty sad that people have to resort to these things.

Edit: Country was Ecuador.

prodigy1367 , Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

62points

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#6

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Social contact. The first thing my relatives from India observe when they visit our suburban texas home is where are all the people?! Hundreds of massive homes and hardly any people seen outside.

Also, noise. Asked the visiting relative the next morning if they slept okay, they responded, "No." I asked why? And they said it was too eerily quiet! [:facepalm:]

wromit , sagar sintan (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

59points

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#7

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Street food, street markets, and public spaces.

Taman_Should , Jacob Riesel (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

57points

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#8

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Family bonds.

The western world is so full of depressed, lonely people because it's so focused on 'the grind' and comparing oneself to everyone else.

Poorer people often have close family ties, probably out of necessity, and a much stronger sense of community.

ALiteralSentientTank , RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

48points

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#9

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones People take care of each other

Necessary-Big4263 , RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

46points

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#10

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Problem solving capabilities with less resource. Creative work

bytebrainiac , Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

43points

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#11

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Way more resourceful with what they have

VisualVolume7499 , cottonbro studio (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

38points

#12

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones cope.

live with less.

learn to make do.

and ultimately, survive.

rich countries are going to have it the hardest when the supply chains fail.

skyfishgoo , hitesh choudhary (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

37points

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#13

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Flexibility and resilience.
People in rich countries like to plan and anticipate. They are organized. It's great when everything goes according to plan but all hell breaks loose when things go haywire.
People in poor countries are better at dealing with uncertainty.

miss_leopops , RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

36points

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#14

Less obesity, they walk more, they want less

External-Conflict500 Report

Final score:

34points

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#15

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Repairing cars. I’ve seen teenagers pull apart a engine on the side of the road and fix it, in America the whole car would have been thrown away

enzo-volvo , Clayton Parker (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

33points

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#16

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Focus on the here and now.

SWOUnderTheHill , anouar olh (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

31points

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#17

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones They seem to have a better sense of community

CompetitiveAnt2609 , Alvaro Camacho (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

28points

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#18

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Care of the elderly and mentally ill. In poor countries families consider I a responsibility.

growsonwalls , Matthias Zomer (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

28points

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#19

Statistically speaking, soccer

DeuceLurker Report

Final score:

28points

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#20

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Ironically, a far lesser carbon footprint.

ClavicusLittleGift4U , Loïc Manegarium (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

27points

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#21

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Dancing

TimMartinsPUBchaun , Joy Anne Pura (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

27points

#22

Better sense of community, resilience, and strangely enough, happiness despite having less. I grew up lower middle class in Manila, and despite not having a lot (our water was pumped from a deep well, inconsistent electricity, clothes that didn’t fit, etc…), I remember having a happy childhood.

mailorderbridle Report

Final score:

25points

#23

Share with others

Distinct-Car-9124 Report

Final score:

25points

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#24

Live with what they have and still be happy.

Medical_Meringue_827 Report

Final score:

22points

#25

Prioritize important stuff

Final score:

22points

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#26

Folk art. In rich countries, it's not cost effective to put a lot of time into decorative crafts, so the traditions die out pretty quickly.

Small-Sample3916 Report

Final score:

20points

#27

"Reuse Things": 30 Things Poor Countries Do So Much Better Than Rich Ones Being happy with less

long-da-schlong , Pixabay (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

19points

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#28

people have more sense of friendliness,
you can go and play football with random people on South African streets

Loli_Sniffer_02 Report

Final score:

15points

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#29

Having a lower carbon footprint, creating less waste, using less animal products.

sumpuran Report

Final score:

15points

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#30

Growth

It's kind of very easy to grow when you have nothing

Akul_Tesla Report

Final score:

6points

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Adelaide Ross

Howdy, I'm Adelaide! I'm originally from Texas, but after graduating from university with an acting degree, I relocated to sunny Los Angeles for a while. I then got a serious bite from the travel bug and found myself moving to Sweden and England before settling in Lithuania about two years ago. I'm passionate about animal welfare, sustainability and eating delicious food. But as you can see, I cover a wide range of topics including drama, internet trends and hilarious memes. I can easily be won over with a Seinfeld reference, vegan pastry or glass of fresh cold brew. And during my free time, I can usually be seen strolling through a park, playing tennis or baking something tasty.

Howdy, I'm Adelaide! I'm originally from Texas, but after graduating from university with an acting degree, I relocated to sunny Los Angeles for a while. I then got a serious bite from the travel bug and found myself moving to Sweden and England before settling in Lithuania about two years ago. I'm passionate about animal welfare, sustainability and eating delicious food. But as you can see, I cover a wide range of topics including drama, internet trends and hilarious memes. I can easily be won over with a Seinfeld reference, vegan pastry or glass of fresh cold brew. And during my free time, I can usually be seen strolling through a park, playing tennis or baking something tasty.

Viktorija Ošikaitė

I'm a visual editor here at Bored Panda and I enjoy a good laugh. My work ranges from serious topics related to toxic work environments and relationship difficulties to humorous articles about online shopping fails and introvert memes. When I'm not at my work desk, checking if every single pixel is in the right place, I usually spend my free time playing board games, taking pictures, and watching documentaries

I'm a visual editor here at Bored Panda and I enjoy a good laugh. My work ranges from serious topics related to toxic work environments and relationship difficulties to humorous articles about online shopping fails and introvert memes. When I'm not at my work desk, checking if every single pixel is in the right place, I usually spend my free time playing board games, taking pictures, and watching documentaries

What do you think ?

tee-lena 10 months ago

How sad. Trying to make others feel better because they are poor? My government takes care of me,as part of it's social contract. This list is not it

13points

I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 10 months ago

This whole article is very condescending.

14points

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Floeckchen 10 months ago

Still you don't see much migration from richer to poorer countries

7points

️️Upvote faery️ 10 months ago (edited)

There's quite a lot more than you think actually. Canadians and US Americans move to poorer countries because our money is worth more there and we can live more comfortably. There are communities of ex-pats from North America living in many other countries like Vietnam or Malaysia for examples.

1point

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DB 10 months ago

Wow. At least 1/3 of these "boomers" are criticized for doing.

6points

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tee-lena 10 months ago

How sad. Trying to make others feel better because they are poor? My government takes care of me,as part of it's social contract. This list is not it

13points

I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 10 months ago

This whole article is very condescending.

14points

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Floeckchen 10 months ago

Still you don't see much migration from richer to poorer countries

7points

️️Upvote faery️ 10 months ago (edited)

There's quite a lot more than you think actually. Canadians and US Americans move to poorer countries because our money is worth more there and we can live more comfortably. There are communities of ex-pats from North America living in many other countries like Vietnam or Malaysia for examples.

1point

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DB 10 months ago

Wow. At least 1/3 of these "boomers" are criticized for doing.

6points

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