Yeah, but it's still fucking cold

"Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to an annual U.N. table that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom."

Iceland has, functionally, no industry, no heavy mining, and doesn't make a damn thing I've ever bought except for fish. (And, given the mercury issues, not much of that.)
So what's Sierra Leone doing or not doing that Iceland is or isn't?
Besides having too many babies, of course...

From the CIA's Factbook file:

Iceland's Scandinavian-type economy is basically capitalistic, yet with an extensive welfare system (including generous housing subsidies), low unemployment, and remarkably even distribution of income. In the absence of other natural resources (except for abundant geothermal power), the economy depends heavily on the fishing industry, which provides nearly 70% of export earnings and employs 6% of the work force. The economy remains sensitive to declining fish stocks as well as to fluctuations in world prices for its main exports: fish and fish products, aluminum, and ferrosilicon. Government policies include reducing the current account deficit, limiting foreign borrowing, containing inflation, revising agricultural and fishing policies, and diversifying the economy. The government remains opposed to EU membership, primarily because of Icelanders' concern about losing control over their fishing resources. Iceland's economy has been diversifying into manufacturing and service industries in the last decade, and new developments in software production, biotechnology, and financial services are taking place. The tourism sector is also expanding, with the recent trends in ecotourism and whale watching. Since 2000 growth has varied from -1% in 2002 to 8% in 2004. The 2006 closure of the US military base at Keflavik had very little impact on the national economy; Iceland's low unemployment rate aided former base employees in finding alternate employment.

GDP per capita: $38,000
Population: 301,931
0-14 years: 21.4%
15-64 years: 66.8%
65 years and over: 11.8%

Median age: 34.5 years

Size: 103,000 sq km


Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone's exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation. A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.

GDP per capita: $900
Population: 6,144,562
0-14 years: 44.8%
15-64 years: 52%
65 years and over: 3.2%

Median age: 17.5 years

Size: 71,740 sq km

So, let's see, Sierra Leone has "substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources", while Iceland "in the absence of other natural resources... depends heavily on the fishing industry".
Yet Iceland has a GDP of 42x that of Sierra Leone.
Rico says that doesn't compute, until you factor in the median age of twice that of Sierra Leone (meaning they're old enough to work at something) and the population of 1/20th that of Sierra Leone, in a country that, even though a lot of it has glaciers on it, is still half again as big.
For once, even though he hates the cold, Rico knows which country he would rather live in...