Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

consciousness-based education and government(all forms) gonorrhea (civilian population), hepatitis (types A and B), leprosy,malaria, measles (including rubella), meningococcal infections (total), pertussis,syphilis (primary and secondary, civilian) tuberculosis, tularemia, typhoidfever, rabies (animal), and typhus fever (tick-borne RMSF). The rate of hospitaladmissions was also thought to be a good indicator of the general healthlevel of the population. Finally, infant mortality rate is a widely used standardmeasure of the level of development of a country, and suicide rate was alreadyused by Durkheim (1951) as a quality of life indicator.Health Habits. Cigarette and alcohol consumption are uniformly acceptedto be detrimental to the health of users. Cigarette consumption per capita wasbased on the total population (including overseas forces) because the totalconsumption figures available included taxable removals and overseas forcesconsumption (all other variables except GNP reflected residential statistics).The variable used for alcohol consumption was the apparent consumption ofdistilled spirits per capita.Economic Welfare. Real gross national product (GNP) per capita is probablythe most encompassing variable in the index. Real GNP per capita is thetotal production of the U.S. and U.S. possessions all over the world, correctedfor inflation in 1972 dollars, and based on the total U.S. population estimates,including Americans overseas. Unemployment, although an important socialissue, was not included in the index because the GNP is highly inversely correlatedwith unemployment rate, and therefore unemployment rate was consideredto be redundant.Creativity. The number of patent applications per population is taken as anindicator of national creativity and self-confidence. Although there is an obviouslag between the development of an invention and the filing of the patent,the filing itself requires organizing power and confidence in the creation of thenew product, and it is the only available indicator of the number of inventions.Marital Stability. Divorce rate has obvious face validity in reflecting thefundamental stability of the social structure.Safety. Traffic fatalities are a major source of mortality in the country. 2544