In Raising the World’s I.Q., the Secret’s in the Salt (2006)
&gt; In fact, Kazakhstan has become an example of how even a vast and still-developing nation like this Central Asian country can achieve a remarkable public health success.<p>&gt; Even moderate deficiency, especially in pregnant women and infants, lowers intelligence by 10 to 15 I.Q. points, shaving incalculable potential off a nation’s development.<p>&gt; All of them — Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrghzstan — saw their economies break down with the collapse of the Soviet Union.<p>Yes, Kazakhstan is a developing country according to the IMF and those who have seen Borat. Using it as an example of the public health success going on in Central Asia is disingenuous however because Kazakhstan is remarkably wealthy compared to its neighbors[0]. It&#x27;s GDP PPP per capita at $25,263 is only a little behind the digital darling Estonia&#x27;s at $29,364. Kazakhstan&#x27;s neighbors like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have theirs at $3,551 and $2,980 respectively.<p>A lay western reader not knowing is particularities of Central Asia could easily make assumptions and walk away from this article with erroneous ideas. The article, in my reading and without the context, suggests a iodine-&gt;health-&gt;wealth causality. In Kazakhstan&#x27;s case oil-&gt;wealth-&gt;health would be more apt.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;publicdata&#x2F;explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&amp;met_y=ny_gnp_pcap_pp_cd&amp;hl=en&amp;dl=en#!ctype=l&amp;strail=false&amp;bcs=d&amp;nselm=h&amp;met_y=ny_gdp_pcap_pp_cd&amp;scale_y=lin&amp;ind_y=false&amp;rdim=region&amp;idim=country:EST:KAZ:KGZ:TJK:UZB:TKM&amp;ifdim=region&amp;hl=en_US&amp;dl=en&amp;ind=false" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;publicdata&#x2F;explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&amp;...</a>