Even if you nuked every one of them, the EU tech scene would still be dead. It’s a cultural problem. The EU would rather be comfortable than competitive.
These numbers would be admirable if they had something to show for it, instead: illiteracy below level 1 28% [0]; life expectancy 79.5 years (as opposed to - for example Italy 83.9 [1]; rank 13 when it comes to cost of living [2]... I could go on with health etc. So, what exactly do you get out of all that additional labour?
Life expectancy numbers are not reliable. Government welfare systems for the old are younger than the people who are in their 80s. When they were introduced, a lot of people lied about their age so that they could retire earlier and get more juicy benefit money.
1) 500 hours a week isn’t just unsustainable, it’s impossible? There are only 168 hours in a week. I’m assuming you mean 50.
2) You’re just agreeing with the point again. Europe cares more about being comfortable. The US cares more about making money and being competitive (well, used to until recently anyway). People do all sorts of unsustainable things for money, all the time.
I’ve lived there, among many other places. It’s pretty obvious in dozens of ways when you see it up close.
East Asia (currently) has a completely different mindset, with tradeoffs, which is why it has completely replaced Silicon Valley for actual Silicon. And frankly, is starting to do the same for software.
And they are.