I would compare Cuba to Myanmar or Laos.<p>I have difficulties accepting the meaningfulness of the statement &quot;Cuba and North Korea are among the third world nations with the least widespread public Internet connectivity over the last 20 years&quot;. The list at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_number_of...</a> puts Cuba at 73rd least, when ranked by percentage, out of 207 listed names. (Note: that list includes Non-country and disputed areas, like the U.S. Virgin Islands, which cannot properly be included in a first&#x2F;third world comparison, and it excludes South Sudan and North Korea.) While I agree that Cuba is in the bottom half of third world nations, there are some 70+ other countries in the same category. Including Myanmar and Laos. (As a minor point, Cuba is technically a second world country under the original three world theory that introduce first- and third-world.)<p>I was unable to confirm the statement &#x27;extraordinarily low median incomes, among the lowest on earth in fact&#x27;. The lists at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PP...</a> and <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28no...</a> put Cuba about in the middle of the world&#x27;s countries. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_GNI_%28nominal,_Atlas_method%29_per_capita" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_GNI_%28no...</a> puts Cuba in the &quot;Upper-middle-income group&quot; of countries. Compare this to North Korea, which is in the &quot;Low-income group&quot;.<p>Triple-checking, <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_countries_by_Human_Dev...</a> puts Cuba in the &#x27;Very high human development&#x27; category, while North Korea is in the &#x27;Low human development&#x27; category along with Somalia and Tuvalu.<p>How do you quantify &#x27;same tier of economic development&#x27;? Cuba&#x27;s biotech and tourism industries are obviously more developed than North Korea&#x27;s. Everything I&#x27;ve found suggests that those two countries are not in the same economic tier.<p>As an observation, North Korea no longer calls itself communist, and hasn&#x27;t since 1992. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_socialist_states#cite_note-10" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_socialist_states#cite_...</a> . Its juche ideology does not appear to be based on socialist or Marxist-Leninist lines. Comparing Cuba&#x27;s government to North Korea&#x27;s is somewhat like comparing the US&#x27;s multi-party representative democracy to Russia&#x27;s.<p>You asked &quot;Where else do people earn $20 per month, have extremely limited access to the Internet, no freedom of speech or press, and live under a Communist dictatorship?&quot;<p>Laos. It is a &quot;communist (Marxist-Leninist), socialist, single-party state&quot; (quoting Wikipedia) just like Cuba. The per-capita GDP is $4,986&#x2F;year while Cuba&#x27;s is $18,796. (I can&#x27;t find the median income for Laos, but it has &quot;one of the lowest annual incomes in the world&quot; (quoting Wikipedia) and below Cuba on the HDI.) 12.5% of the population of Laos are Internet users, compared to Cuba&#x27;s 25%. Quoting <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;freedomhouse.org&#x2F;report&#x2F;freedom-press&#x2F;2013&#x2F;laos" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;freedomhouse.org&#x2F;report&#x2F;freedom-press&#x2F;2013&#x2F;laos</a> :<p>&gt; Press freedom in Laos remains highly restricted. Despite advances in telecommunications infrastructure, government control of nearly all print and broadcast news prevents the development of a vibrant, independent press. ...  Under the criminal code, individuals may be jailed for up to one year for reporting news that “weakens the state” or importing a publication that is “contrary to national culture.”<p>Freedom House gave Laos a &quot;Press Freedom Score&quot; of 84, while Cuba&#x27;s is 92. 100 is the worst.