I thought I'd do a little comparison of US statistics compared to other counties. The first sets are from the OECD. I used them since they produce middle of the road data. The second part is from the NationMaster web site. They collect data from a large sampling of different sources.
- The US has the highest GDP of the OCED nations. The entire EU 15 is still listed below us.
- The US ranks number 2 in GDP per person. That means as individuals we get paid more per year then everybody except Luxembourg.
- Unfortunately our wealth isn't distributed very equally. The US has third world standards when it come to distribution of its wealth.
- The US gives the most in dollar value with 27.46 billion dollars but as a percentage of the GNI the US ranks next to last of the OECD countries.
- In Math test the US ranks 24th of the 29 OECD nations. Finland, Korea, and the Netherlands top the list.
- Strangely the US spends more than the other nations on education but still ranks low.
Throwing money at the problem isn't necessarily the solution.
- The health situation in the US is terrible. The US spends 15.3 percent of its GDP on health care. That's the highest in the OECD and 15 percent of the country doesn't have health issuance and a large chunk of insurance is worthless.
And what do you get for spending more than socialist countries.
- Life expectancies comparable to Mexico.
- Terrible Infant Mortality rates.
- Hardly any doctors and accute care beds.
Oh yeah, and the US is the most obese nation in the world. Good job fatty.
- The US spends more than all the countries in the world combined in Military Spending. The figure listed is old. It is now at 494.3 billion and that doesn't include Iraq or Afghanistan. Our two biggest threats, China and Russia spend 102 billion combined. And they're our allies!
- The US is the most Nationalistic nation with 77 percent saying they are very proud.
- Venezula is the happiest coutry. The US is at number 8 out of 50. Not bad.
- The US has the highest divorce rate and the most plastic surgery.
- Out of the 62 countries the US ranks 24 for the number of murders per capita. This sounds pretty good until you see countries like Romania, Yemen, and India with better murder rates.
- Of the 18 nations surveyed the US is number 8 when it comes to beer drinking. I thought this one would be higher.
We are also the 3rd highest high country. That's right, Cannabis use ranks even over the Netherlands where marijuana is legal! Good thing we spend more on the "War on Drugs" then every country in the world.
