And, sources for those of you interested:
Life expectancy: Study: U.S. Slipping Down Life Expectancy Rankings, Life Expectancy Wiki
Freedom of the Press index as reported by Reporters Sans Frontières
Internet Speed: US ranks 28th in Internet connection speed and World Results by Speedtest.net
Corruption Perception Index, Also reported by Transparency International
Quality / efficiency of education
Cell Phones Per Capita: Nation Master
Child Mortality Rates: Reported by the UN
Health Care Rankings done by the World Health Organization (WHO)
See Also: Ranking 37th — Measuring the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System, Chart Of The Day, Ron Paul: The SEC is a Total Failure and Part of the Problem, Social Security, the Military Budget and Wall Street, BBC News Worldwide Poll: Global Views Of US Improve, ‘Education Is a Right’: The New Gateway Drug, Why It’s Time To Fix The Tax System, Has America Really Become Economically Unfree?, America: Economically Unfree?, If America had $100 and 100 people…, and The Moral Urgency of Obesity.
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{ 217 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh yea, because TONS of people go to France for their healthcare. It’s a real medical tourism hotspot
You forgot GDP…
Don’t confuse cost with quality
@tshyfghf
God you’re stupid.
This has nothing to do with tourism?
It is a reminder, however, of the fact that we shouldn’t assume the USA is the best in everything and there’s no room for improvement. Facing the reality of our situation would allow us to better address and improve these key issues.
Fail at humor, can someone else please help this lad!?!
It’s not the point. People, you really can’t see it! There is no humor, it illustrates in a very clear way that US is far from being the #1. Stop thinking you are! How can you say it’s the best country in the world if you haven’t traveled to any other?
They might not go there for the healthcare, but those who do get injured while visiting france will get really nice healthcare for little to no cost
Actually it is
Actually they do. Look it up before you post something stupid.
*facepalm* so while the wealthiest 0.25% of the US gets to jet-set around the country (or world) to pick the doctors that carry the best reputation for their diagnosed condition, the remaining 99.75% get to settle for the best they can afford if anything at all? You’re absolutely right. Medical tourism is the most important criteria in the health care discussion.
THAT’S what caught your attention? Not the fact that russia has less prisoners and better education than us? Or that america, the supposed defender of democracy, is 17th on the list? Not to mention being 41st on the list for free speech.
We are not a Democracy
We are a Republic
you mean like China?
Oh yea, because “number of rich people served” is a real way to evaluate a country’s health care system.
Yeesh. Got anything besides typical conservative rhetoric?
Actually, yes, they do. Many people from all over the world. In fact, the single biggest problem with the French healthcare system is that it is becoming overloaded by visiting foreigners and illegal immigrants.
They actually do, watch Sick0 the documentary
No, people MOVE there for it. You’ve clearly thought out your answer.. move along.
You’re an idiot.
oh, burn.
Citizens get excellent free health care in France. Tourists would have to pay standard rates. Therefore, it is not a medical tourism hotspot. If you think for one second before you type, you will avoid looking like a moron.
Dear moron: the fact that you Hillbillies have convinced yourself that “France R Bad” doesn’t alter the fact that yes, TONS of people DO go t0 France for their healthcare.
I’m not sure if I’m sarcasm impaired today but…
France is very popular for it’s health care, just look at Micheal Moore’s documentary Sicko, and you’ll see just how bad the US health care is.
I’m British, and I’m thankful we have health care, but ours is terrible compared to France; It’s one of the reasons I’d like to retire there someday.
You forgot GDP, Olympic medal counts (sports), and overall military might.
Name a war that USA has won wit ou being paid for?
Well I hope we aren’t Number 1 in democracy…considering we are a Republic…
*sigh* how many times must it be pointed out: a Republic is a kind of COUNTRY, to wit, one that is NOT run by a monarch. Our Constitutional Federal Republic uses the form of GOVERNEMNT known as a “Representative Democracy.” Pay attention to that second word: D – E – M – O – C – R – A – C – Y, meaning we, the PEOPLE of this Republic, ARE the government, choosing from among ourselves REPRESENTATIVES using, not lots or cards or foot races, but a balloting system, called “VOTING.”
Jeez, we need to bring back Civics classes.
Nice try at appearing to know something you are incorrect about. A Republic is NOT a type of country, it is a broad definition of any type of non-monarchial government whereby a group of people come together and establish a government that abides by a charter/document/collection of laws, such as, a C-O-N-S-T-I-T-U-T-I-O-N (see I can do that too). Under the charter, a method of how the group will be represented in the government is chosen, often it is through limited popular election, but not always. The power of a Republic is bestowed by the charter, and it limits the government and gives rights to the people to protect them.
Sounds terribly familiar, right?
A democracy is either direct or representative, everyone votes and the majority decides issues (as in a ballot initiative), or you have someone you’ve chosen make it for you, akin to the Roman Senate or our House of Representatives. However, and I stress this, a democracy possesses no protections for the minority, nor limits on the power of the majority, and the government’s power is bestowed by the people themselves, and no other entity.
Ultimately, the U.S. is a Federal Republic (no need to say constitutional, it’s implied by republic), that CHOSE to use popular elections- limited or representative democracy if you will- to choose its representatives to government (although only in the House originally, which was the weakest part of Congress by far, as nearly all the real enumerated powers given the legislative branch rest with the Senate). A democracy was the last thing the Founders wanted after all.
In truth, elected representatives owe no loyalty to the people, only to the charter, and are technically supposed to choose what is best for the country, even if not for those who elected him. He was viewed as a steward, not a true representative. However, things have vastly changed from the past, when a man would be chosen to run for president and not even know he was in the running, or be elected for office without his knowledge. Now, media pressure and elective pressures push us ever closer to the type of democracy the founders feared.
/class over
Thank you for correcting his posting on a Republic. A republic is a representative democracy with a charter (e.g. Constitution)–it is not majority rule like a normal democracy. We the people have the power but we delegate that power to our representatives who we have the power to remove thru our vote if they are not following our wishes. Basically our representatives are govern per our grace not vice versa.
I meant to say have the power to remove if they are governing outside our charter (Constitution).
A quick trip to wikipedia will confirm that this Republic vs. Democracy distinction conversative conspiracy theorists are always bringing up for some bizarre reason is really completely made up, like your theory that a Republic is a form of government based on a constitution. The word Republic simply means that citizens have a say in government, and is most often used to mean Representative Democracy (shortened to Democracy because in the modern world there are no states ruled entirely by direct democracy and thus there is no reason to specify). To say the U.S. is a Republic and not a Democracy is entirely meaningless.
Yeah man, we are a DEMOCRATIC Republic, that means we have people we elect to make decisions for us instead of doing it ourselves.
Democratic Republic is merely a term invented by people wanting to emphasis the democracy already inherent within the republic system, it’s akin to saying “I am humanly homo sapien”. It arose from people not understanding the meaning of the term, and is used because everyday citizens identify with it more and it makes them feel fuzzy. Most countries that term themselves “Democratic Republic” in their titles are actually dictatorships or socialist. It’s simply a matter of misunderstood semantics.
Our form of government is a Republic, the method by which we choose our representatives is representative democracy. However, we are not a representative democracy, in term of that form of government, it carries entirely different connotations. Stating we are a Republic automatically insinuates we use representative democracy as the method of choice, so Democratic Republic is an unnecessary term.
Do you people actually read the Constitution? “…each State will be guaranteed a Republican form of government.” We are not a democracy, we never were and we never will be. by the time we hit that stage the Constitution will be defunct and America will have to start over. There is nothing written in the Constitution other then selecting congress that calls for a populist vote. Originally the house was the government of the people and the Senate was the government of the state. (Some how we managed to screw that up.) We as Americans have no direct control on how the federal government is run other than choosing the people that make the decisions for us. Hence a Republic. It is no wonder we are slipping I am surrounded by stupid people that don’t know how to think. (Ironically the argument against a Democracy.)
did you choose the representatives from whom we get to pick? I didn’t pick the 10 or so names on the ballot each election…
Thank you for making the distinction
yes we are
did you really cite wikipedia? come on now.
Yes. You got a problem?
Apparently Iceland is the best!
There is a glaring problem with these info-graphic: Iceland is near the top of a lot of those bars, but they are in an amazingly crappy economic situation. Which is conveniently left out of this chart (economic variables). Don’t look too much into this biased chart.
Avert your eyes from the biased chart, children!
Iceland is 10th in GDP per capita, $37,242(wikip), one third less then the U.S. And see that they get for the money. We’re talking about a country where one biggest employers is f***ing Lazytown! And still they have free healthcare(for everyone), free school etc.
This is of course before the economic problems(thou the GDP stat might be post crisis), which was caused by going from a regulated social-democratic(or socialist for you americans) to a deregulated american style banking system. Add a couple of crocked bankers and pro-finance politicians you have the problems in iceland pretty much summed up.
LOL – but Iceland is broke and under ashes…
No shit what a smart guy r u !!!!!
Unfortunately for our conservative friend above, the quality of healthcare is measured by what is available to every day citizens of that particular country, not what is available to tourists willing to pay top dollar.
But don’t let facts ruin a perfectly good narrative, moron.
And disregard Iceland. The entire population is about 300K.
“How to completely miss the point” by tshyfghf. Well done for being thick as fuck.
at least FRANCE knows its place and its not OWN by China
@tshyfghf
You’re dumb. That is all.
Hong Kong a country? Good job dumbfuck.
Hong Kong is a country although she is not a sovereignty state.
Hong Kong a country? Good job dumbfuck.
tshyfghf, do you know anything?
So what’s the point, hater?
what a horrible font to use. SHAME ON YOU WELLINGTON GREY.
SHAME
ON
YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Probably the most intelligent comment in this thread.
I had a laugh at the prison population. Lowest is not even close to the best.
Now do a similar chart that shows where we are #1.
Would also be interesting to see on a scale how far we are behind these countries (Like on a scale of 1 to 100)
No-where close to Number 1 there either, tshyfghf
In 2007, between 65,000 and 80,000 people visited the United States for Medical tourism reasons, and 750,000 Americans chose to try another country – an increase of 50% on the previous year. [1]
Major medical tourism destinations include –
India – 4,500,000 people / year [2]
Singapore – 4,200,000 people / year [2]
Thailand – 1,000,000 people / year [2]
Jordan – 250,000 people / year [3]
[1] http://www.forbes.com/2008/05/25/health-hospitals-care-forbeslife-cx_avd_outsourcing08_0529healthoutsourcing.html
[2] http://www.indianhealthcare.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=39%3A&id=327%3AINDIA+TURNING+AFFORDABLE,+QUALITY+OPTION+FOR+MEDICAL+TOURISTS&Itemid=
[3] http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=10589
How can you possibly win at Democracy?
I don’t think anyone should care about Mobile Phones per capita, and how could you possibly quantize “Freedom of Press”?
This graph, although obviously misleading, does show the lunacy in claiming your country is inherently better than all others.
This graph also doesn’t recognize the fact that record keeping is so much more effective in the United States. Innumerable countries have bad record keeping, and have distorted numbers. I’m still stunned that somehow Sweden won at Democracy, kind of like winning at Irony?
Record keeping is effective in the US? I beg to differ a lot.
1. Iceland has a 99% complete record of all people that has lived on the island since 11 century.
2. Sweden has a very complete census records since 17-century with parts of the country going so far back as the 12 century
3. I believe that a lot of the US citizens right know are filling out tons of paper while doing there taxes. I made mine in 30 seconds by accepting the numbers that already was filled in by sending a simple text message with my approval code.
4. You world wide know “do-not-fly-list” is a marvel of record keeping. John Smith is probably on it – and that’s the only form of identification given about the person on the list. So every John Smith in the world is deeply checked by the security officials no matter if he is 3 month old or 99 years old.
5. A country with good record keeping does not perform censuses because they know there people from the moment they are born.
I could go on with a lot of other examples.
@tshyfghf: The French sure do. That’s all that matters.
who cares who goes to france or not? It’s quality healthcare, and you aren’t paying $6000 for four stitches on a finger…..
http://medicaltourism.com/destination/destination-item.php?title=France&lang=en
“Medical Tourism in France has been growing amongst other European countries. Visitors from the UK and its surroundings have found that visiting France for medical tourism can be a great opportunity to combine their visit with different medical care treatments.”
I am a proud member of the Tea Party moovement and I don’t beleive you! This is just more mainstreem media socialist communism and it’s not true. We are #1. Sarah said so. This is the best countrie in the world and I don’t need no dam facts to know it.
HAHAHAHAHAHA oh my God you made me laugh out loud at the office.
Well-done satire, sir. Kudos.
tshyfghf: right! I don’t go to taiwan to get an effective education either. Go figure.
/sarcasm
You got Japan and South Korea backwards in the internet connection speed category.
This is worthless, if u really believe this you need to re-evaluate your life. 1. In the United States any sign of life is considered a live infant even if delivered at 24 weeks gestation. More early on intervention with preterm and premature infants is done in the United States inflating this statistic. Classifications in other countries of when a baby is born alive is very different. Also 99% of pregnancies in the US whether my midwife, OB or other Doctor are recorded, in other countries this is highly variable. 2. If your a Saudi King do you come to the US for treatment or do u go to France? yah they all come to the Cleveland Clinic. 3. its nice that the author actually posted his sources even though they weren`t good ones but it shoes the bias of opinion and errors in statistical variance
Being a medical tourism hot spot doesn’t mean you have a good health care system for your CITIZENS.
It just means you have really good health care for whoever has the most amount of money.
That’s not a good health care system for everyone. In fact, it’d be a pretty bad one.
What an insipid graph.
Aside from the pure fun of just trying to bash America, the graph author’s attempt is to link each country’s policies with it’s statistical ranking.
If we cared enough, I’m sure we could analyze each study and learn the inherent bias’ of the surveys’ author or data.
Costa Rica seems to rank higher in “health care” than the United State so I’m sure if the graph’s author is ever unfortunate enough to be stricken with cancer or other life threatening illness, that he will promptly fly to Costa Rica for treatment. Or if his child happens to be born prematurely, I hope he happens to be in Slovakia where I’m sure his newborn baby will receive top notch medical care.
what a stupid fucking post. you only added stats where america is NOT #1. im sure we’re fucking number one in something. but either way, whoever compiled this data should get shot.
We’re number one in jingoism! America!! AMERICA!!!!!
Oh yea, because that makes America number 1 in everything
lol at all the butthurt Americans.
Wow, that makes very good sense to me dude.
Lou
http://www.vpn-privacy.us.tc
I swear this is the 4th time this has been on digg
Scientific Literacy: “Iceland 1st with USA at 33rd”
USA Nobel Prizes – 320
Iceland Nobel Prizes – 1
Not meaning to nitpick, but if Iceland has 300,000 people, and the USA has 300 million, then Iceland has about 3 times as many Nobel prize winners PER CAPITA than the USA.
Having visited or lived in over 40 countries, I can say that although the USA is a great country to visit, you do have a lot to improve. Travel, get ideas from other places, and impartially implement the best. Many of these top countries were influenced by many great American ideas in the past. Don’t be afraid to grab some ideas back! And certainly don’t fall into the lazy assumption that your country cannot be improved…..
This list is comical in its pointlessness. At the end of the day when the crap hits the fan, it’s to the US the world turns and not France or f*%^in Slovakia.
How many of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans, were won by naturalized Americans.
If any of you who believe that this nation is really any good at being a nation NOW, please go back and look at the stats from fifty years ago.
You don’t have to be a dope if you don’t want to be. You will see that as the ultra-elite emerged the nation has taken a dump on its other citizenry.
http://medicaltourism.com/destination/destination-item.php?title=France&lang=en
” Medical Tourism in France has been growing amongst other European countries. Visitors from the UK and its surroundings have found that visiting France for medical tourism can be a great opportunity to combine their visit with different medical care treatments.
It´s medical care structure offers important medical care treatments for international patients as well as beauty enhancements for that dreamed look. Highly recognized hospitals and doctors have made a good reputation for France as a popular medical tourism destination. Surgical costs in France are between 30% and 50% lower than in the United States and other European countries.”
One problem with this is that all countries use different standards to define each topic. These differ wildly, pretty much making this worthless. Also, the WHO doesn’t qualify (ask any questions) about the data it’s given, so every country can claim pretty much whatever it wants. One more thing: America is a Republic, not a Democracy.
Actually the poor can’t go to France, and the rich can buy whatever they want here. But for some people only rich white guys are people.
Yea, we get it. America sucks. We’re just sooooo horrible. You must have had some delight putting this together. I just can’t wait to load up the suitcases and move to Finland, Taiwan or France. Yup, sucks here.
Have you ever been to a different country for more than a week to gain some kind of basis for comparison?
Your post definitely makes us seem less dickish…
It’s funny how high on most of those lists Iceland was, and it still went bankrupt. It’s almost like spending beyond your means to provide service catches up with you one day.
It is very unfortunate that Americans are so poorly informed about the reality of the rest of the world. At the end of World War II, America was the only country still unaffected by the bombing and actually the US industrial complex was going at its maximum speed due to the war requirements. It was at this time that Americans felt that the country was by far the strongest ( it was) and the most powerful ( it also was). Fifty years after the rest of the world has caught up in many many areas and the only thing where America is the strongest is in the Armaments. After having fought 5 wars and not won a single one ( Korea a tie, Vetnam a defeat, Panama Granada (?) Iraq ( a loss) and Afganistan still to see, but not looking very good ) while thousands and thousands of Americans died and Hundreds of Thousands of the enemies of the moment also died, we are far from having a leadership position in any of the important standards of well being, but still believe that we are number one. I have news for all of you who believe in that, we are not and we better move fast or we will be like G.B. Shaw said of America “A great civilization that went from start to decadence without going through greatness.”
Before you label any of the mentioned military campaigns as defeats, spend some time doing military homework. Maybe you have your information twisted from whatever media you choose to watch, but if Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan were being assessed in terms of military goals, they have all been “military victories”. Go do some reading before making stupid judgments!
are you kidding me?… what homework are you reading?… don’t just presume that the history books in america are true.. American Propaganda is real… i think Fox have proven that.
Try to do some reading in other languages and from other countries before YOU make stupid judgments based on your redneck newspapers.
In a way you are right though… US went into Iraq to get control of the oil… and they did… they went into Afganistan to bomb Talibans… and they did… they went to Vietnam to kill communists… and they did…
You are just as misinformed as the poster I am replying to.
America when to Vietnam to kill communists? No, not quite. Have you ever talked to ANY Vietnam veterans? No? Didn’t think so. The US went to Iraq for oil? Have our oil prices gone down? Hmm no. The history books that I read are from those who are there, were there, and actually are writing objectively. Your broad assumptions are literally based on nothing but your own indoctrinated bias. Typical :/
first America went to Vietnam not to kill communists but for the opium(herion)its in afghanistan for the same reason now,and in iraq went for the oil…what a great point of view”why the oil prices didnt go down” you think thats why they went there so Americans can get cheap gas and drive their lovely SUV….There is a lot of money to be made in Iraq ..but is for the people who started the stupid war….The American propaganda is worst tha USSR had it during Stalin regime…travel ,go and see Europe.
Panama and Granada were just exercises and the mission was completed successfully. While I will agree the first Gulf war did not finish the job, a reasonable stable government has been established in Iraq and the country is heading towards a representative republic.
In a study funded by the people of Iceland…
lol imagine if they done one of those for england lol we must be like last on every single one of those topics
tshyfghf you are a dolt…. that is all.
Makes me damn proud to be Icelandic ^^
http://digg.com/comedy/IMMA_CHARGIN_MAH_ICELAND_11oneone
shawoop!
The mis-use of Infant Mortality Rates (IMR) in these kinds of graphics and articles calls into question the rest of the ‘facts.’
As Dr. Linda Halderman succinctly put it:
“Low birth weight infants are not counted against the “live birth” statistics for many countries reporting low infant mortality rates.
According to the way statistics are calculated in Canada, Germany, and Austria, a premature baby weighing <500g is not considered a living child.
But in the U.S., such very low birth weight babies are considered live births. The mortality rate of such babies — considered “unsalvageable” outside of the U.S. and therefore never alive — is extraordinarily high; up to 869 per 1,000 in the first month of life alone. This skews U.S. infant mortality statistics.
When Canada briefly registered an increased number of low weight babies previously omitted from statistical reporting, the infant mortality rose from 6.1 per 1,000 to 6.4 per thousand in just one year.
According to research done by Canada’s Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health, 'Comparisons of infant mortality rates by place and time should be adjusted for the proportion of such live births, especially if the comparisons involve recent years.'
Norway boasts one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world. But when the main determinant of mortality — weight at birth — is factored in, Norway has no better survival rates than the United States."
I dont know TONS of people that go to america just because of their health care… really!
It’s a lot easier to make ignorant statements than it is to actually educate yourself on something
Too bad the best nation on aggregate has an one of the worst economies and is destroying other economies through poor banking and volcanos
but what about obesity?
Nice work Iceland on Democracy, Freedom of the Press, Smallest Prison Population, Lack of Corruption, Renewable Energy Use, Scientific Literacy, and Infant Survival Rate.
BAD work on the Volcano.
ICELAND is #1!
Have u been to france…. Thought so. Moron.
Iceland is also #1 for annoying volcanoes
Makes me consider moving to Iceland…
Any claim can be supported by cherry-picking the results of several not-so-scholarly studies. If someone wanted to, he could find countless categories in which the United States “ranks” first. Numbers are easily manipulated.
Alas, an objective presentation of information wasn’t the agenda here. Anti-Nationalism is hip. You want hits. I get it. I’m sure I’ll hear some sweaty teenager in a knit winter cap regurgitate these “rankings” when I buy my coffee tomorrow.
I do. When I was living in France I had a wonderful experience with their healthcare. I used it quite often for several years and was mildly disappointed, but absolutely nothing like I get in the States. Have you… ever BEEN to France? Have you ever used their healthcare? Maybe you want to qualify your argument with some personal experience or something.
I’d go to Italy.
Get well with all you can eat soup, salad and breadsticks!
Iceland is also first on Volcanic ash output. America alas is a mere #34.
Effectiveness of Education, anyone from Taiwan will tell you that the education system there isn’t great. It is very similar to that of China. Just memorize information and not lot of real world training. Fail to the poster.
Memorising knowledge does not mean it is a bad way to learn. Some knowledge might not be very meaningful in earlier life but become very valuable when associating countless situations in later life. When one grows older, he is less likely to have time, patient, and concentration to memorise things again. There are lot of factors affect the effectiveness of learning, but one cannot learn effectively without memorising.
Conspicuously left out are America’s ratings in philanthropy, foreign aid, medical technological innovation, military advancements, space advancements, etc, etc, etc. The author fails in almost every way imaginable to be objective – when you just throw raw numbers around while failing to take into account social, cultural, and economic factors behind them you are failing to make real use of that very data. Cell phone usage? Woah! How does that matter at all? And as far as Freedom of Press goes, here is a nice excerpt you failed to mention (via their compilation methods) “The index should in no way be taken as an indication of the quality of the press in the countries concerned.” (http://en.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/note_methodo_en.pdf). Objectivity is what gets society and science places, not this bullshit.
America’s ratings in foreign aid you say:
Okey, USA is 1st place for absolute spending in foreign aid but only about 19th place as a percentage of Gross National Income. How’s that for a generous country?
http://www.undispatch.com/international-foreign-aid-score-card
That is a sad attempt to berate the US. 19# based on GNP, but that doesn’t take private or personal donations into account, just tax funded giveaways. Our system of government is on a much larger and more complex scale than the Swedish system. Read between the lines, tool. The US’ philanthropic and charity efforts are far beyond and away from any other country. I don’t see Sweden doing much in any news outlet.
Most of our foreign aid is military goodies for the other fascists states.
This reminds me.. FIGURES LIE AND LIARS FIGURE.
I think this idiot missed the point. ^^^^
In many cases, the US has something of a disadvantage in being a country spread out over a large geographic area. It’s easier for a smaller country in a contained geographic area, for example, to provide faster internet speeds to its citizens. In other cases, one hopes these statistics are a wake-up call to the American populace.
I’m an American living in South Korea and I find it hard to believe that South Korea ranks below the US in cellphone ownership.
From personal experience, cell phone ownership is as near 100% as any country in the world.
The smallest amount of research supports this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_South_Korea#Cellular_phones
I think you’ll find French healthcare is for the French – as in they have a free healthcare system that CARES for their citizens.
@tshyfghf: Not the Palins. They go to Canada.
The reference for freedom of press shows America being tied for #20 (a lot of countries tie, in fact); where did #41 come from?
The United States is a very large and populous country compared to some of the other countries ranking high on the list. Some things such as “smallest prison population” are negated simply because the US has 300 million residents while Iceland has 300,000. Some of the other things such as Scientific Literacy (however that is defined) need to be improved.
@tshyfghf I believe the people who are ‘medical tourists’ are wealthy individuals who use the United States to bypass their own slow health care systems. While I agree that wealthy people should be able to get a premium level of care, should we be proud of our health care system which has the wealthy flocking to us?
How do you explain that India has a smaller prison population that USA? India is close to 4 times the population size of the USA. I think the graph actually takes in to account difference in population by using % of the population.
RE: prison population: In absolute numbers, maybe; But I’d guess a lot of such numbers are in a per-capita or percentage of total population respect.
If you look at the sources, you would see that it’s per capita.
I don’t think anyone ever thought of America as #1 expect americans themselves…
Your graphic puts US at #41 for freedom of press. Your source says it is 20th. Fail.
If America is not number one then tell me why so many people are trying to get in here illegally?
That’s a dumb comment. Not being the best doesn’t mean their original countries aren’t worst.
Especially the ones south of us. I haven’t heard of many Canadians making breaks across the border except to sell dope. Then they go home.
What a meaningless set of numbers.
Which is one of the reasons that you are lost. They have meaning. Your inability to perceive facts is meaningless.
There are a few graphs missing . . . . .
Military spending.
Polarization of wealth distribution.
CO2 emissions.
Obesity rates.
USA #1 USA #1 USA #1 !!!!(or close) ! ! ! !
Military Spending: America spends more on its military than any other country – yet we assist MANY foreign countries with military aid, advisors, and weapons technology. The world looks to America for anything military related.
Polarization of wealth distribution: False. America’s poor receive help in tons of forms, everything from welfare, to medicaid etc. Despite popular belief, most hospitals will give indigent persons free or nearly free health services.
CO2 emissions: America produces the most CO2, but we also are spearheading new renewable energy resources. India and especially China burn way more dirty coal than we do, and since they are developing, don’t care.
Obesity Rates: America sure has a lot of fat people, but do some investigating into how that is ranked – via BMI scales. Accordingly, the fittest athletes are considered “morbidly obese” based on the BMI charts. Not to mention, slightly overweight people live the longest and healthiest of anyone.
Facts and Reality 1 : Your biased misconceptions 0
lol eRokk I am so glad I waited until this late in the day to read digg, or I would’ve missed all your hilarious comments.
The world looks to America for anything military related because we’ve already declared ourselves the police system of the entire world. Why would other countries waste their money trying to be the coolest country on the block when they know we’ll come smashing down someones door just to say, LOOK AT US, LOOK WHAT WE ARE DOING FOR EVERYONE!
Think about it, all of our military spending has yet to be actually utilized on any real or practical threat. We just spend billions of dollars running around through the desert killing people who can’t afford and do not have the means to even place a phone call to the united states, let alone bomb it haha.
I also would really like to see a source cited for “Accordingly, the fittest athletes are considered “morbidly obese””, this is absolutely plain as day one of the most retarded things I’ve ever heard. MORBIDLY obese? Let’s just try to make some more stuff up and that’ll make us seem right.
And the comment about polarization of wealth, you obviously have absolutely no idea what that means in any way. Polarization of wealth in no way translates into “How much money your government gives poor people”. It’s almost like you aren’t even reading anything anyone says and just talking about completely different topics.
And all of the wars mentioned were absolute failures. Just because George Bush comes on the TV and says “Mission Accomplished!” you think oh geeze, another winner for America! Name one productive result of the war in Iraq, or the war in Vietnam? Would the world be controlled by vietnamese right now if we wouldn’t have gone there, lost countless numbers of lives, and then decided that we were just gonna leave after accomplishing nothing?
eRokk: “America doesn’t have the most polarized wealth, my money isn’t cold at all!”
Wow… you really do believe all that, don’t you. That’s sort of… well, sad, but it sort of fits the picture, I guess.
“The world looks to America for anything military related.”
Ahem, yeah, sure we do, sure… We all look to you, you the kings of the world, instead of, say, international coalitions such as UN and NATO…
“India and especially China burn way more dirty coal than we do, and since they are developing, don’t care.”
Soo… when did “well those guys are even worse” become a viable excuse? Here’s some news: The fact that somebody else sucks more than you do doesn’t make you guys suck any less.
“Polarization of wealth distribution: False. America’s poor receive help in tons of forms, everything from welfare, to medicaid etc. Despite popular belief, most hospitals will give indigent persons free or nearly free health services.”
LOL! Oh yes, your silly country has no problems with polarization of wealth distribution, oh sure, because we all know how brilliantly helpful you are to people. You make it possible for anyone to get back on their feet by providing a good welfare system… oh, wait, you don’t! As a sidenote, it’s quite funny to see that you’d consider *most* hospitals giving practically free health services a *positive* thing. In a civilized country, *any* hospital refusing to care for a patient in need without first checking their bank balance would be an abomination.
“America sure has a lot of fat people, but do some investigating into how that is ranked – via BMI scales. ”
True that BMI is an idiotic scale, and not a good reference at all. But, see, disregarding that reference does not prove that you wouldn’t have an obesity problem, only that it’s not proven by that reference that you do. I’m pretty sure that if you take any valid obesity scale, that would still show that you have an obesity problem.
You, sir, seem to mistake medical tourism and health care.
A lot of people finding some medical treatment really cheaper in some country doesn’t mean that the overall country health care is excellent.
I see glass as being half full: Rating USA @ 30 in Life Expectancy means that it has better expectancy than in 137 other countries in the world. Eat that!
It’s not about affordability or availability, it’s about quality.
All that made me think was GO ICELAND!
This looks like propaganda to me.
It’s probably a natural reaction to think things containing facts we don’t like look like propaganda.
Sweden #1 in democracy? Saying that we’re #1 in democracy is almost like saying China is #1 in democracy.
What did you attempt to convey? Are you a Swede? Are you feeling that you are oppressed. Do you have ALL of your electronic communications scanned? Tell me about it.
Hmmm. What about naval military and Air force? We’ve got the biggest stick…
Pssshh. Here’s some things we are number 1 in:
1. Military spending.
2. # of McDonalds
3. Nobel Prize winners
4. Gross National Debt
5. Tornadoes
6. # of billionaires
7. Corn production
8. Oil Importation
9. Olympic Medals
10. Country music stars
And let’s not forget energy spending and pollution [per capita if you like].
Or production and stock of weapons of mass destruction seems like a nice one.
Wow, according to this we should all move to Finland!
Well, I have decided that I´m moving to Iceland.
Mmmmmm The United States of Arrogance.
Or Japan. Although living in Japan is more expensive.
I am a proud member of the Tea Party moovement and I don’t beleive you! This is just more mainstreem media socialist communism and it’s not true. We are #1. Sarah said so. This is the best countrie in the world and I don’t need no dam facts to know it.
I read an article recently that said Australians were 26% overweight compared to America’s 25% according to average BMI.
So the ones with least racial diversity score the best?
How is a survey objective when ranking things like Democracy, Freedom of the Press, Corruption, and Quality of Health Care? Also, having fewer mobile phones is a bad thing? I say it is a good thing. This post is quite attention grabbing, but other than that it is poor.
Still America got most of the green babe!!
the USA actually has the fastest internet connection. the FASTEST is in Berkley CA. its faster then Korea and Japan. the USA has very fast internet, but its mostly in university towns like Berkley and State College PA and other places like that
Affordable 1G Internet connection to home is available in Hong Kong now. I’m not sure it is the fastest for general use.
I would question every single one of these Statistics. Each country reports their own statistics. If each country does not use the same criteria then the statistics are flawed.
aaaa, sicko a documentary? you have got to be kidding! if that is a documentary, i guess “this is spinal tap” is a great documentary. if you get your info from mike moore, than you are as dumb as a brick!
as for this, it is good. but, do not be an absolute fool to read this and think the US is as bad as it reads. one has to look at the criteria and determine if the countries filling in the said criteria is doing it 100% truthfully! so you believe that russia infant survival rate is above ours, you are think in the head! please, do your own research before you believe anything you read!
also, mobile phones is a criteria? that makes me laugh so hard that i cant even sit straight in my chair!
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner.
I’ts majority rules. Just like a lynch mob.
Maybe if you didn’t count black people we would rank higher. Hell, of course we would.
Now someone has the right idea!
When it comes to infant mortality rates, the data is suspect because it is not measured the same way in every country. The US measures *every* birth, while France only counts births where the infant was at least 400 grams. This alone would cause a difference in mortality rates. We’ve got to see the methodology of the studies and the data collection methods in order to fully validate the chart. But I still think it’s a good chart.
I’m not sure why anyone is surprised? What’s the big debate about?
In Europe, the US is seen as a Christian fundamentalist bully that is run by the rich to the detriment of its citizens.
who gives a fuck how the US is viewed in Europe
Since we are so eager for them to join us in our military adventurism, I thought YOU might think it was important.
Largely accurate.
The WHO recently found that the US has the best quality of health care in the world – the problem in the US is affordability. People go to other countries because it is cheaper, not better.
The US has a high infant mortality rate because we consider all babies born live to be a person. In many other countries a baby that does shortly after birth because of complications is considered “stillborn” and this artificially drives down its infant mortality rate making the US look worse by comparison.
The US has a lower life expectancy rate comparied to other countries because we have a higher “instant death” rate. Far more people die in the US from murder and accidents. Once you factor out those types of death, we are second only to France in life expectancy.. which makes me wonder where they came up with Andorra, Japan and San Marino as numbers one, two and three.
By “democracy” they would most likely mean “liberty”. And yes, liberty in the Land of Liberty has been on the decline for years… which is what is getting us our high prison population. Our lives in the US are being regulated to the point where nearly every citizen commits crimes daily and never even realizes it. There have been organizations forming lately with the goal of decriminalizing Americans.
They’re pretty spot on about our horrible education, and as a direct consequence our abyssmal scientific literacy. This will continue as long as the Unions and Government stay in control of education in the US. Their only ideas seem to be to throw more money at the problem… while at the same time not requireing school children to perform better.
And yes, the US is full of corruption… as anyone who has read the most recently passed piece of major legislation can tell you.
It’s all about the growing economic gap between the haves and have nots in America and the haves have convinced the have nots that it’s the right thing to do. Go Fox news.
The thing is in America the have-nots of today can be the haves of tomorrow, and vice versa. There is a great gap between the two groups but what most people don’t realize is that the people who make up these groups changes all the time.
If you look around you can see it happening every day. A poor or middle-class person gets an idea, starts a business, starts taking in some big bucks and then either he manages the business well and it continues to sustain him throughout his life or he mismanages it and he’s back to being poor.
America really is the land of opportunity. Or at least it was. It is being fundamentally changed. It is much harder now for a poor person to sieze on an opportunity and make something of themselves. New taxes and laws, unfortunately, punish people for attempting to better themselves.
When there is a standard definition for *any* of the above then get back to us. For now it’s just another FAIL.
The QUALITY of our health care is THE best in the world. Insurance companies are a leviathan and if that’s the basis for that “ranking” then you are misleading. Go to costa rica and get your heart replaced and come back and tell me WHICH COUNTRY has BETTER health care.
Ignorant ass hat
Great post. I thought I had so-so internet in the U.S., but when I moved to South Korea I realized just how slow the US internet actually is.
Supporting your country is one thing, but to ignore statistics like these is ignorant at best and dangerous at worst.
This web page is a bunch of bogus. I don’t expect America to be the best overall on a lot of these things. And how do you rank countries in terms of democracy? It seems quite arbitrary.
I love America for what is it. I am sure many other people love their countries as well. In the end, the socialists in Europe will always complain that America is too big and too powerful. This is changing folks, but we will always be the better country.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Iceland second in lack of corruption well that’s how the corruption in Iceland works
Your posting is irrelvant. You list your sources but your sources are hogwash. For example, your “freedom of the press” index just list the same info you have. Who made it, how was it made, what was it based on?
<—– These avatars are awesome. I wish all forums used them.
Democracy is like two black people and a bucket of chicken deciding who’s greasier
“while at the same time not requireing (sic) school children to perform better.” The real issue is that people such as you are willing to blame everyone but the freaking parents.
By the way use the spell check, it works.
Sorry, I’m from Iceland and the idea that Iceland has the freest press or a lack of corruption is pure fantasy. The United States has a much freer, much more diverse media than Iceland. Corruption is rampant, it’s pretty much a banana republic. So I’m going to have to call BS on this entire list.
Sorry to be realistic here, but….
The US, as some properly call it,
is not even
“America”, an entire continent.
When will we get that through our thick heads???
In US English, we don’t have a single continent named America, we have two continents: North America, and South America. Saying America doesn’t refer to a continent, because there is no continent called America. Instead, similar to the way we refer to the United States of Mexico as Mexico, we refer to the United States of America as America.
Just another reminder to all the fake patriots and the misguided sheeple. By comparison we as a country are still crawling, the vast majority of the others listed have hundreds if not thousands of years in witch they’ve been able to work out the kinks, so to speak. And last but not least, The BS mantra of “Big Government Bad, free Enterprise Good” has been nothing short of a bloodless coup. A more justified name for the country would be… “The United Corporations of America”
I would also like to add the irony that we got a lot of spam trackbacks to this post for paydayloans and affordable health care. Think of the irony!!!
How exactly are they coming up with this data? I find it funny they have a category for corruption; how is that officially measurable?
I think technology wise, the U.S. is still #1, right?
This is all true if you take the United States as a whole, which is a huge place with enormous areas of sparse population. There are areas in the US with less than 1000 people that are geographically larger than most of the countries on the list. Similarly, Australia tends to do poorly on these rankings for the same reason. Comparing average internet speed, for example, is meaningless (the countries that rank high on this factor are minuscule, hence easier to wire).
On the contrary, when you review the top world CITIES on a variety of factors, many at the top are American cities. In Japan’s Global City index, New York is #1
iceland is highly ranked in alot of these, and their country just failed. rankings fail.
Yeah their banks failed because they where sold bogus investments by american banks like many banks and govt.s in europe. The banking system you praise has ruined our reputation around the world and the future will seriously jepordize Americas ability to attract foriegn investments.
Iceland kicks major a$$
Yes but none of those countries are superpowers are they? We have a world to manage, they have a nation
So, I’ma just move to Iceland.
So Iceland ranks the best for most of these and they’re broke. What does that tell you?
I think things are fine in the US how they are.
what a compilation! great piece of infos put together. thanks.
What’s interesting about some of these comments is that people think only americans think their country is number one. Of course you would think your country is the best! In many national anthems of countries, have you ever heard one that says something that suggests a country is failing, metocre, or even second best? Most people don’t really like to think that someone has it WAY better than they do. Also, no one wants to live in the place that isn’t the best. Why would you WANT (keyword WANT) to live somewhere when in one country you could have it a lot better? That is why people want to have pride in their country, to have a sense that the place they grew up in was the best place there was, no matter what anyone says.
P.S to anyone who wants to burn me for this comment. I will not be checking back on this comment thread EVER so I don’t have to be insulted.
Good for you
I just wanted to mention that America is also at least 10 times the size of these countries population wise. It is a lot harder to govern and deal with things like the issues raised on this survey. So basically what I am trying to saying is because of the population aspect, this survey is bullshit.
you forgot military strength.
It looks like the republicans have deteirated the intelegence under w. bush and chaney lower in thier evil ways. they downed the image of uncle sham. in the world fw
Damn, Scandinavia (and Iceland) get shit done!
Hello from Europe!
I live in one of the relatively poor European countries (Portugal)
We have good and free healthcare, and an even better private healthcare for about 30 USD month/person
We don’t have ATM fees whatsoever.
Everyone has at least 1 cell phone since very young (usually when turning 10 years old). (+- 20 cents per minute) superb voice quality. I have one dropped call every month or two.
3G internet for laptops, 30 USD unlimited traffic
Free school from kindergarten to college. Subsidized Toshiba, Asus, Dell or HP laptops for each high-school student (200 USD)
My communications supplier (Zon) provides me 120 digital channels with Tivo, 2 land lines, 50Mb unlimited fiber Internet, for 75 USD month
We don’t eat a lot of fast food, and we are “European” thin.
We are what Americans would call a “socialist” country.
PS: Even our most conservative representatives are in favor of free healthcare.
I forgot:
Low crime rates, and possession of small amounts of light drugs is not a crime.
And don’t forget that my great state of Texas is No. 1 in repeat teen pregnancies in the nation, as well as No.1 in high school dropout rates due to teen pregnancies. We have the highest rate of uninsured (health insurance). But we are also No. 1 in Wind Energy. So, come on people, now. Smile on your brother, everybody get together try to love one another right now!
wow guys um i don’t have no fucking clue what you guys are talking about but all i heard is complain and smartass people.
btw im under 18 years old so don’t dis a kid <.< LOVE YA! BASTERDS….
Given the very unhealthy diet and pollution of the USA how should there be the highest life expectancy?
Undisclosed state security measures can distort democracy rankings. All countries with major security apparatuses impinge on press freedom, if Finnish and other internet is faster, why are these systems not bought? Maybe vegetarianism reduces crime. Yet Hitler was one?! Where there is money and bureaucracy there is corruption. Dedication is required in study. Teenage promiscuity and loveless sexual activity is detrimental to the studies of girl students. Busy people sometimes do not have time to phone. Pollution and profits must be abandoned in favour of the environment. Scandinavians´relative licence and absence of inhibition among women frees them from mental and physical distraction which makes them head scientific literacy. When my father developed a major intracerebral problem, I was misinformed that the USA has the best healthcare, although taking overall factors into account I did not take this too seriously. Poverty in the inner cities of the USA will raise infant mortality. Infants have very low resistance. Swedish doctors thought they discovered that I had congenital hip dysplasia (my maternal great-grandmother had this) when I was a baby, and my mother still took me to an infant healthcare programme, which my father discontinued as he found the conditions indecent and unhygienic, I worry if the orthopaedic brace may have induced later pelvic stricture, but I am not so narrow backwards, but since suspecting violation, but not being certain not being an expert I have lost interest in eventually bearing children, and I am interested in a military career, and I had wanted to have children quickly and early in life for this reason, but my father was blind and I cared for me, and the Asian culture fashion combined with according to my father a Mongol descent, made me get me fixed on the idea to find my right match from Mongolia, my father suggested this could be done on the Internet, but they did not answer or the e-mails were sabotaged by Mongolian-haters, as my father was a distinguished person, I would not get it out of my head and even heart and kept trying for years. When finally I visited Mongolia, I found the people speak almost no English and no-one cared for me except that I made friends with a woman teacher, it felt constricted and not especially secure, with the almost haunted lingering of a great history which had made the world at times, and on my return I also realized I was past the age to enter the army of that country if I would become its citizen. In the meanwhile I may also have sustained more than damage to the entire system.
What’s up with Iceland?
Very interesting and you souses check out, having said that… FUCK YOU, YOU ICELAND LOVING HIPPIE PIECE OF SHIT! Why don’t you go live in Iceland, Sweden, or Japan? Oh I’m sorry Is America not number 1 at letting you move to another country too? You should add national pride to your list, since we’re not number one there either because of people like you! Good citizens don’t just bitch and moan they either evoke change or get the fuck out.
Man, you must really like how big corporate dick tastes there, Andrey. Maybe you can enlighten us as to how acknowledging that there are other countries that do things better than we do means we should “get the fuck out”. What change are you enacting exactly? Other than spitting out the corporate line (and swallowing the corporate everything else)?
Iceland’s looking pretty darn good right about now, even if I don’t know what they rank for health care (by viewing this chart alone).
As an American, I definitely don’t have the mindset that we’re number one, and I’m often embarrassed by the Americans that -do- have that mindset.
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