You can tell a lot about the state of a country by comparing the state of its public and private infrastructure.
Take a look — if you can sneak past the gated community guard shack and peek through the privets without getting tackled by a rented goon — at the homes of the wealthy.
Note the manicured lawns of the "one percenters," fertilized the months recommended by experts depending on climactic zone, painstakingly controlled for weeds, irrigation calibrated by volume, on timers.