Overrated And Underrated Countries

The ratings here are relative to "conventional wisdom" about how good a place to live or bad a place to live a country actually is.

Places Perceived As Bad That Are Much Worse Than Most People Realize

* North Korea

* Saudi Arabia

* The West Bank and Gaza in Israel (a.k.a. Palestine)

* Pakistan

* Belarus

* Papua New Guinea

* Venezuela

* South Sudan

* Yemen

* Central African Republic

Places That Are Bad But Are Perceived As Worse Than They Actually Are.

* Lebanon

* Iran

* Cuba

* Columbia

* Cambodia

* Vietnam

* Bangladesh

* Ethiopia

* Eritrea

* Uruguay

Places That Are Better In Some Respects But Worse In Others Than They Are Perceived

* Mexico (more educated with better healthcare; but also more corrupt and violent)

* India (more economically developed in some places, but more fanatical, with more profound poverty and with a serious underuse of toilets)

* Portugal (more progressive in some ways, more economically backward and authoritarian in others)

* Egypt (safer but less free)

* Singapore (more developed but less free)

* China (more developed but less free and more corrupt)

Places That Are Perceived To Be Better Than They Actually Are

* Greece

* Italy

* Spain

* Hungary

* Much of the United States of America