Actually, you know what. Let me present more compelling evidence. That first article you link mentions concerns about Yemen's growth. So let's contrast how Yemen is doing in comparison to the USA with this Gapminder graph:
Do note that the trails both start in 1960 and the child mortality axis is scaled logarithmically, meaning that at any time Yemen's child mortality was an order of magnitude larger than that of the USA. Also note that you can switch child mortality with expected lifespan and get pretty much the same curve.
http://goo.gl/ok9irQ
Do note that the trails both start in 1960 and the child mortality axis is scaled logarithmically, meaning that at any time Yemen's child mortality was an order of magnitude larger than that of the USA. Also note that you can switch child mortality with expected lifespan and get pretty much the same curve.