I can appreciate that many Americans are patriotic and really love their country. And certainly if you compare it to Muslim countries, there is far less violence here, women have more equal rights, etc.
But if you actually look at the figures, America ranks really low as one of the best countries in the world, studying objective ways of measuring. Our rates of poverty are really hight, our medical care is actually extremely poor unless you are one of the lucky people with very good insurance, our infant mortality rate is really high, the number of Americans who are members of the middle class is very low, etc. I don't think most Americans realize how badly they fare compared especially to citizens of western Europe in basic standard of living, unless they travel there a lot. Sorry for such a long post with so much detail, but the way most Americans feel about America and the actual statistics of how we fare compared with other industrialized countries are two very different things.
quinnell.us
Myth: The U.S. has the world's highest standard of living.
Fact: By a great many important measures, it doesn't.
Kangas Summary: The U.S. has the highest productivity per worker in the world. But how Americans spend that productivity is another matter entirely. Working with slightly less, the other rich nations of the world have built clearly better societies: better health and vital statistics, universal health coverage, smaller health costs, less violent crime, less pollution, higher home ownership, more democratic participation, greater social programs, less government corruption, less teenage sex, fewer teenage pregnancies, fewer abortions, larger middle classes, less poverty, less child poverty, greater savings, greater investment, less debt? the list goes on and on.
Further evidence:
In 2004, the U.S. averaged 6.6 infant deaths per 1000 live births, a rate that was behind Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finalnd, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. (IP)
In 2004, the average life expectancy for Americans was 77.4, a rate that was behind Australia, Austria, Canada, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and and tied with Denmark and Ireland. (IP)
In 2003, the U.S. had the second highest per capita income ($37,800) behind Luxembourg ($55,100). It appears that Norway ($37,700) will soon pass us as well. (IP)
As of 2002, we do not rank amongst the top 30 countries in the world when it comes to income equality. (IP)
In 1995, the U.S. had an unemployment rate of 5.6%, a rate higher than Austria, Belarus, Bolivia, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Honduras, Iceland, Japan, Kazakstan, Korea, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and Uzbekistan. (IP)
According to the 2004 U.N. Human Development Index, the U.S. ranked No. 8 on the list of "Most Livable Countries," behind Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and Iceland (IP)
The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).
The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
"The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78).
Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
"The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).
"Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).
Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).
Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).
The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80).
"The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The European Dream, p.80).
Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11. (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)
"U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81).
Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).
The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).
Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).
The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).
"Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39).
"Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66).
"In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).
The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).
U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).
Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment insurance last year; 1.8 million--one in five--unemployed workers are jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).
Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our government debt. "By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004).
Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. As a result, while we bear record trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).
"Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).
"The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).
8Comparison.htm.
A COMPARISON OF THE U.S. TO OTHER RICH NATIONS
_______________________________________________________________
NOTE: Substantial portions of the following were reproduced with permission from WHERE WE STAND, by Michael Wolff, Peter Rutten, Albert Bayers III, and the World Rank Research Team (New York: Bantam Books, 1992). Copyright (c) 1992 by Michael Wolff & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the contents of WHERE WE STAND may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be sent to Michael Wolff & Company, Inc., 520 Madison Avenue, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10022, phone 212-308-8100, fax 212-308-7425, or email to mwolff@ypn.com.
_______________________________________________________________
The following statistics are a 1991 comparison of the United States with Northern Europe, Japan and Canada. The comparison is especially revealing because all these nations are more liberal and democratic than we are. Their voter turn-outs are 50 percent higher; their corporate lobbying systems are much less developed; their taxes are higher, their safety nets larger, their societies more equal, their labor unions stronger.
And what may depress many conservatives is that these nations beat us on statistic after statistic after statistic.
Table of Contents:
Standard of Living
Income Inequality
Health Care
Sex
Crime
Pollution
Work and Leisure Time
Democracy
Conclusion
STANDARD OF LIVING
The economic supremacy that the U.S. has enjoyed in the second half of this century owes much to the good fortune it enjoyed in the first half. Two world wars destroyed Europe and Japan, while the prosperity that comes from running a wartime economy turned America into an economic superpower. America held this advantage for decades, but in the last 20 years, Europe and Japan have been rapidly catching up, and in many areas overtaking us. There is a mundane explanation for this: developing nations grow much faster than already developed nations, much like a child grows faster than a teenager. But the fact that they are catching up and often by-passing us with societies that are more equal, democratic, liberal, pro-environmental and pro-labor presents a serious challenge to conservative thought.
First, let's take a look at overall tax rates as a percentage of the GDP. (All statistics are for 1991. See the following footnote for a comment on sources.1) Keep in mind that the two columns measure different things: the first, GDP, the second, personal income.
General rate Top rate
(percent of GDP) (percent of income)
Sweden 53.2% 45.0
Denmark 48.3 40.0
Norway 47.1 23.0
Netherlands 47.0 72.0
Germany 39.2 56.0
Finland 37.7 51.0
Canada 37.3 29.0
Japan 30.9 60.0
United States 29.8 34.0
You might be surprised to learn that the United States has long had the lowest tax rates of any industrialized nation. And how does the level of taxation compare to each nation's standard of living? There are three general ways to measure standard of living: earning power, purchasing power and individual worker productivity. The U.S. has lost its lead in the first and is losing its lead in the other two.
Earning power is defined as GDP per capita, or how much the average citizen earns in a year. It is an important statistic because it measures how advantageously nations trade on the global market. After the Second World War, the U.S. was number one for 40 years. But in the mid-80s, the U.S. suddenly began dropping down the list.
1991 Earning Power2
Switzerland $35,490
Japan 27,300
Sweden 26,900
Denmark 24,230
Norway 24,150
Finland 24,110
United States 22,550
Canada 20,840
Germany 19,830
Netherlands 19,310
Purchasing power, however, is a rather more accurate measure of standard of living. It shows how much each country pays to buy the same item, say, a loaf of bread. With its large, diverse and well-functioning market, the U.S. has generally enjoyed the lowest real prices in the industrialized world. But, as the chart below shows, it is also true that the purchasing power of other nations has been growing more rapidly than the U.S.' For this reason we should also look at each nation's percentage of the US purchasing power in 1970, and again in 1991.3
Purchasing Percent of Percent of
Power, 1991 US, 1970 US, 1991
United States $22,204 -- --
Germany 19,500 75% 88
Canada 19,178 72 86
Japan 19,107 57 86
Denmark 17,621 71 79
Norway 16,904 54 76
Sweden 16,729 77 75
Netherlands 16,530 72 74
Finland 15,997 58 72
The third measure is individual worker productivity. The following chart shows how other nations have been catching up to the U.S. over the decades:
Percent of U.S. individual worker productivity (U.S. = 100%)
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990
United States 100% 100 100 100 100
Canada 77.1 80.1 84.2 92.8 95.5
Italy 30.8 43.9 66.4 80.9 85.5
France 36.8 46.0 61.7 80.1 85.3
Germany 32.4 49.1 61.8 77.4 81.1
United Kingdom 53.9 54.3 58.0 65.9 71.9
Japan 15.2 23.2 45.7 62.6 70.7
Unfortunately, the above figures give only a crude measurement of how well each nation lives. There are severe problems with measuring a nation's well-being by productivity alone; perhaps the best analogy is that of a millionaire who wastes all his money on cocaine, compared to an average person who spends it on food, clothing, shelter, education, etc. (More) When one considers exactly how each nation spends its GDP, the weakening of the U.S.' number one position in the world becomes even more apparent.
Where We Stand publishes an index of economic prosperity that takes into account all the following factors: productivity, salaries, equitable wealth distribution, luxury-goods consumption, trading strength, poverty, personal and national indebtedness, inflation control, business strength and credit-worthiness. And the best-off nations are:
Germany 1382
Japan 1363
Switzerland 1332
Canada 1216
United States 1178
Netherlands 1087
Sweden 1079
Norway 1061
United Kingdom 1049
Denmark 920
Finland 910
But let's break down these broad comparisons into their components. Perhaps the most appropriate statistic to begin with is home ownership, the central part of the American Dream: (More)
Home ownership:
Ireland 82% Japan 60
Spain 80 Portugal 59
Luxembourg 77 United States 59
Norway 73 Finland 58
Belgium 72 Sweden 55
Greece 72 France 54
Italy 68 Netherlands 46
United Kingdom 67 Germany 40
Canada 64 Switzerland 29
Denmark 60
America's decline in home ownership is symbolic of a larger erosion in living standards, which Americans have met in two ways. The first is that America has gone deeply into debt to maintain its lifestyle. The second is that families have been able to hold ground only because wives have joined their husbands in the work force. (Note: this is a comment on the difficulty of making ends meet, not on working women!) Europe and Japan suffer much less from either of these problems:
Percent of families earning two paychecks:
United States 58%
Japan 33
France 33
Italy 20
Germany 18
Netherlands 16
Average Household Debt
United States $71,500
United Kingdom 35,500
Germany 27,700
France 27,650
Netherlands 5,000
Switzerland 800
Average Household Savings
Japan $45,118
Switzerland 19,971
Denmark 18,405
France 17,649
Germany 17,042
Norway 15,196
Netherlands 14,282
Finland 12,387
Sweden 10,943
United Kingdom 7,451
United States 4,201
Percent of income spent on credit cards:
United Kingdom 12%
United States 10
France 8
Japan 4
Switzerland 3
Netherlands 2
Germany 2
Government debt per person:
Belgium $16,423
Japan 14,049
United States 12,433
Sweden 9,541
Netherlands 9,368
Canada 8,597
Norway 5,498
United Kingdom 4,635
Finland 2,798
Germany 977
Trade Balance (millions):
Japan +$77,110
Germany +76,713
Netherlands +7,990
Canada +5,047
Norway +3,769
Denmark +2,426
Finland -250
United Kingdom -37,958
United States -113,240
Current Account Balance (millions):
Japan +$56,783
Germany +55,477
Netherlands +6,962
Norway +226
Denmark -1,402
Finland -4,895
Canada -16,593
United Kingdom -34,065
United States -105,900
Investment (percent of GDP):
Japan 30.6%
Norway 28.8
Switzerland 26.6
Finland 24.8
Canada 22.0
Netherlands 21.4
Germany 19.9
Sweden 19.7
United Kingdom 19.2
Denmark 18.0
United States 17.1
INCOME INEQUALITY
As mentioned earlier, America has the greatest inequality of income and wealth in the industrialized world:
Inequality of income (0 = most equal society, 100 = the least equal):
United States 99
Canada 83
Netherlands 82
Switzerland 79
United Kingdom 78
Germany 66
Norway 60
Sweden 60
Average CEO's pay as a multiple of an average
worker's pay:
United States 17.5 (More)
United Kingdom 12.4
Japan 11.6
Canada 9.6
France 8.9
Germany 6.5
Percent of Union Membership in Workforce:
Sweden 85.3%
United Kingdom 41.5
Canada 34.6
Germany 33.8
Japan 26.8
Netherlands 25.0
United States 16.4
Size of Middle Class (More):
Japan 90.0%
Sweden 79.0
Norway 73.4
Germany 70.1
Switzerland 67.2
Netherlands 62.5
Canada 58.5
United Kingdom 58.5
United States 53.7
Poverty level (More):
United States 17.1%
Canada 12.6
United Kingdom 9.7
Switzerland 8.5
Germany 5.6
Sweden 5.3
Norway 5.2
Children under the poverty level:
United States 22.4%
Canada 15.5
United Kingdom 9.3
Switzerland 7.8
Sweden 5.0
Germany 4.9
Norway 4.8
Deaths from malnutrition (per million):
Men Women
United States 7 13
France 4 9
Canada 5 7
Japan 2 1
United Kingdom 1 2
Norway 0 1
Head Start (percent of age group enrolled in preschool)
2-year olds 3-year olds 4-year olds
France 35.7% 96.3 100
Norway 22.8 31.6 44.1
Finland 20.2 16.0 19.6
Germany 9.1 32.3 71.6
United Kingdom 1.3 25.9 69.2
United States 0.0 28.9 49.0
HEALTH CARE
Health Care Expenditures (percent of GDP)4
United States 13.4%
Canada 10.0
Finland 9.1
Sweden 8.6
Germany 8.4
Netherlands 8.4
Norway 7.6
Japan 6.8
United Kingdom 6.6
Denmark 6.5
Doctors' incomes:
United States $132,300
Germany 91,244
Denmark 50,585
Finland 42,943
Norway 35,356
Sweden 25,768
Percent of population covered by public health care:
ALL NATIONS (except below) 100%
France, Austria 99
Switzerland, Spain, Belgium 98
Germany 92
Netherlands 77
United States 40
Average paid maternity leave (as of 1991; this changed with Clinton's signing of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act):
Sweden 32 weeks
France 28
United Kingdom 18
Norway 18
Denmark 18
Japan 14
Germany 14
Netherlands 12
United States 0
Life Expectancy (years):
Men Women
Japan 76.2 82.5
France 72.9 81.3
Switzerland 74.1 81.3
Netherlands 73.7 80.5
Sweden 74.2 80.4
Canada 73.4 80.3
Norway 73.1 79.7
Germany 72.6 79.2
Finland 70.7 78.8
United States 71.6 78.6
United Kingdom 72.7 78.2
Denmark 72.2 77.9
Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births):
United States 10.4
United Kingdom 9.4
Germany 8.5
Denmark 8.1
Canada 7.9
Norway 7.9
Netherlands 7.8
Switzerland 6.8
Finland 5.9
Sweden 5.9
Japan 5.0
Death rate of 1-to-4 year olds (per community of 200,000 per year):
United States 101.5
Japan 92.2
Norway 90.2
Denmark 85.1
France 84.9
United Kingdom 82.2
Canada 82.1
Netherlands 80.3
Germany 77.6
Switzerland 72.5
Sweden 64.7
Finland 53.3
Death rate of 15-to-24 year olds (per community of 200,000 per year):
United States 203
Switzerland 175
Canada 161
France 156
Finland 154
Norway 128
Germany 122
Denmark 120
United Kingdom 114
Sweden 109
Japan 96
Netherlands 90
Note: the murder rate for the above age group is 48.8 per 200,000. Even subtracting this entirely still puts the U.S. near the top of the list.
Premature Death (years of life lost before the age of 64 per 100 people):
United States 5.8 years
Denmark 4.9
Finland 4.8
Canada 4.5
Germany 4.5
United Kingdom 4.4
Norway 4.3
Switzerland 4.1
Netherlands 4.0
Sweden 3.8
Japan 3.3
Percent of people with normal body mass:
Men Women
Germany 53% 37
Finland 51 37
United Kingdom 46 38
Canada 52 29
Switzerland 49 30
France 44 30
Denmark 44 25
United States 47 22
Sweden 44 25
Percent of people who believe their health care system needs fundamental change (More):
United States 60%
Sweden 58
United Kingdom 52
Japan 47
Netherlands 46
France 42
Canada 38
SEX
Percent of all children born out of wedlock:
Sweden 46.4%
Denmark 41.9
United States 21.5
United Kingdom 19.2
Canada 12.1
Germany 9.4
Netherlands 8.3
Switzerland 5.6
Japan 1.0
Having children out of wedlock, however, does not mean that the father is not living at home and offering support. Here is the actual percentage of families headed by single parents:
United States 8.0%
Germany 6.7
Netherlands 6.7
Canada 5.6
Denmark 5.1
France 5.1
United Kingdom 4.0
Sweden 3.2
Japan 2.5
Sex education is more prevalent in Europe than America, where conservatives oppose it on the grounds that it condones sexual behavior. The statistics show the unintended consequences of this policy:
Sexually active teenage population:
Norway 66%
United States 65
United Kingdom 57
Germany 56
Canada 53
Italy 34
France 34
Percent who have not had intercourse by age 20:
Boys Girls
Belgium 61 63
Netherlands 58 62
Germany 33 28
Norway 33 25
United Kingdom 24 23
France 9 25
United States 12 16
Percent of sexually active single 15 to 19-year olds using birth control:
Germany 95%
United Kingdom 92
Netherlands 88
Norway 87
Sweden 79
Denmark 70
United States 56
Teen pregnancies per 1,000 teenagers:
United States 98.0
United Kingdom 46.6
Norway 40.2
Canada 38.6
Finland 32.1
Sweden 28.3
Denmark 27.9
Netherlands 12.1
Japan 10.5
Total teen abortions per 1,000 teenagers:
United States 44.4
Norway 21.1
Sweden 19.6
Denmark 18.2
Finland 17.9
United Kingdom 16.9
Canada 16.2
Japan 5.9
Netherlands 5.5
CRIME
People per police officer:
Sweden 328
Canada 358
United Kingdom 400
United States 459
Netherlands 553
Japan 556
Denmark 594
France 632
Finland 643
Norway 661
Annual reports of police brutality (per 100,000 people)
United States 92.5
United Kingdom 6.0
France 0.7
Prisoners (per 1,000 people):
United States 4.2
United Kingdom 1.0
Germany 0.8
Denmark 0.7
Sweden 0.6
Japan 0.4
Netherlands 0.4
Death row inmates:
United States 2,124
Japan 38
Europe and Canada 0
Percent of households with a handgun:
United States 29%
Finland 7
Germany 7
Canada 5
Norway 4
Europe 4
Netherlands 2
United Kingdom 1
Looking at the above statistics, one would think that Europe is soft on crime, while the U.S. approach to law and order is based on no-nonsense deterrence. In reality, Europe is relatively crime-free, and the U.S. has the worst crime rate in the world:
Murders committed with handguns annually:
United States 8,915
Switzerland 53
Sweden 19
Canada 8
United Kingdom 7
Murder rate (per 100,000 people):
United States 8.40
Canada 5.45
Denmark 5.17
Germany 4.20
Norway 1.99
United Kingdom 1.97
Sweden 1.73
Japan 1.20
Finland 0.70
Murder rate for males age 15-24 (per 100,000 people):
United States 24.4
Canada 2.6
Sweden 2.3
Norway 2.3
Finland 2.3
Denmark 2.2
United Kingdom 2.0
Netherlands 1.2
Germany 0.9
Japan 0.5
Rape (per 100,000 people):
United States 37.20
Sweden 15.70
Denmark 11.23
Germany 8.60
Norway 7.87
United Kingdom 7.26
Finland 7.20
Japan 1.40
Armed robbery (per 100,000 people)
United States 221
Canada 94
United Kingdom 63
Sweden 49
Germany 47
Denmark 44
Finland 38
Norway 22
Japan 1
POLLUTION
Travel on public transportation as a percent of all travel:
Japan 18%
Finland 16
Denmark 15
Portugal 14
Germany 11
Norway 9
United Kingdom 8
Netherlands 8
United States 1
Annual air miles per person:
United States 1,698
Canada 1,105
Netherlands 1,014
United Kingdom 902
Norway 829
Sweden 575
Finland 506
Denmark 476
Japan 425
Germany 344
Average price of a gallon of gas:
Sweden $4.85
Denmark 4.46
United Kingdom 3.56
Germany 3.05
Netherlands 3.02
Japan 3.01
Canada 1.40
United States 1.07
Energy Units of oil burned annually:
United States 791.5
European Community 501.4
Japan 234.3
Germany 108.5
United Kingdom 81.3
Canada 80.4
Netherlands 24.1
Sweden 16.3
Finland 11.1
Norway 9.3
Denmark 9.0
Carbon dioxide released per person per year:
United States 5.8 tons
Canada 4.8
Germany 3.2
United Kingdom 2.9
Japan 2.2
OECD Europe 1.8
Total Carbon Monoxide emitted annually:
United States 60,900 tons
Canada 10,100
Germany 8,926
France 6,198
United Kingdom 5,264
Sweden 1,754
Netherlands 1,229
Norway 649
Switzerland 621
Total chlorofluorocarbons emitted annually:
United States 332 million tons
Japan 95
Germany 71
United Kingdom 67
Canada 34
Netherlands 17
Switzerland 10
Denmark 6
Finland 6
Sweden 4
Norway 1
Major oil spills (1976-89):
United States 16
France 6
United Kingdom 5
Japan 4
Canada 2
Sweden 2
Finland 1
Germany 1
Forests cleared (thousands of cubic yards):
United States 808,421
Canada 379,500
France 95,964
Sweden 84,612
Finland 72,864
Japan 57,272
Norway 14,810
United Kingdom 6,600
Acid rain (the lower the pH number, the worse the acidity):
Japan 3.9 pH
Sweden 4.1
United States 4.3
Canada 4.3
Norway 4.4
Denmark 4.5
Finland 4.5
Netherlands 4.9
United Kingdom 5.1
Energy Units of coal burned annually:
United States 458.0
European Community 299.0
Germany 73.9
Japan 73.2
United Kingdom 64.0
Canada 27.6
Netherlands 8.1
Denmark 5.5
Finland 4.1
Sweden 2.5
Norway 1.0
Debris inhaled per person per year:
United States 81 pounds
Finland 44
Sweden 44
Europe 26
Netherlands 24
Germany 24
Denmark 20
Norway 15
United Kingdom 11
Japan 2
Government spending on pollution control (percent of GDP):
Japan 1.17%
Netherlands 0.95
Canada 0.89
Germany 0.78
Sweden 0.66
United Kingdom 0.62
United States 0.60
Norway 0.54
Finland 0.52
Municipal waste per person per year (kilograms)5
United States 864 kg.
Canada 632
Japan 394
United Kingdom 353
Germany 331
France 304
Italy 301
Percent of all glass recycled:
Netherlands 50.3%
Japan 49.6
Germany 41.2
Sweden 40.0
Denmark 31.0
Finland 30.0
United Kingdom 27.0
Norway 21.1
United States 20.0
Percent of all paper and cardboard recycled:
Netherlands 62.0%
Japan 54.4
Germany 37.0
Denmark 32.0
United Kingdom 13.0
United States 8.4
WORK AND LEISURE TIME
Note the position of economic powerhouse Germany in the next two lists.
Average hours worked per year:
Japan 2,173
United States 1,890
Sweden 1,808
United Kingdom 1,771
Netherlands 1,756
Finland 1,744
Norway 1,725
Denmark 1,699
Germany 1,668
Average paid vacation per year:
Finland 35.0 days
Germany 30.0
France 25.5
Denmark 25.0
Sweden 25.0
United Kingdom 25.0
Netherlands 24.0
Switzerland 22.0
Norway 21.0
United States 12.0
Average hours spent watching TV per day:
Japan 9:12
United States 7:00
Canada 3:24
United Kingdom 3:10
Germany 2:13
Sweden 2:00
Finland 2:00
Denmark 1:54
Netherlands 1:42
Switzerland 1:34
News as a percent of all TV programming:
Denmark 43%
Sweden 35
Canada 32
Netherlands 25
Germany 20
United Kingdom 17
Japan 6
United States 2
Annual employee turnover in manufacturing:
United States 40%
Finland 35
Germany 25
United Kingdom 20
Sweden 18
Japan 18
France 14
How employers rate their employees (100 = strong identification with company objectives):
Japan 84.7
Switzerland 70.8
Denmark 68.4
Germany 64.3
Norway 60.7
Finland 60.4
Netherlands 58.5
France 57.9
United States 56.4
Sweden 56.0
Canada 52.2
United Kingdom 48.1
Percent of employees fired for cause:
United States 52%
European Community 43
DEMOCRACY
The U.S. may be the oldest existing democracy in the world, but it is also the weakest, and one of the only democracies where voting is not required by law. It shows:
Voter participation:
Germany 87%
Sweden 86
Norway 83
Netherlands 80
Finland 76
United Kingdom 75
Canada 75
United States 49
Average number of national referenda per year:
Switzerland 169
Australia 18
Denmark 11
France 10
Ireland 8
Italy 4
Sweden 3
Norway 1
United Kingdom 1
Canada 0
Finland 0
Germany 0
Japan 0
Netherlands 0
United States 0
Number of political scandals since 1945 (More):
United States 53
United Kingdom 42
France 16
Canada 5
Germany 3
Japan 2
Sweden 2
Netherlands 1
Norway 1
Number of politically motivated demonstrations, strikes, riots and armed attacks over 30 years:
United Kingdom 5,136
United States 4,258
France 1,566
Germany 622
Japan 524
Canada 260
Finland 63
Netherlands 57
Denmark 55
Switzerland 39
Sweden 33
The United Nations Human Freedom Index (0 = least freedom, 40 = most freedom. More.):
Sweden 38
Denmark 38
Netherlands 37
Austria 36
Finland 36
France 35
Germany 35
Canada 34
Switzerland 34
Australia 33
United States 33
Japan 32
United Kingdom 32
CONCLUSION
These statistics are shattering to those who believe that greater individualism and less government somehow produce better societies. And they should serve as a wake-up call to every American that this country is headed in the wrong direction.
These statistics evoke two common responses from conservatives and libertarians. The most natural response is to blame them on 40 years of Democratic government. This, however, is a giant non sequitur. The very point of this list is that nations with far more liberal governments than ours have created better societies, even with somewhat less productivity. If liberalism were really harmful to a nation's standard of living, then these nations should be doing worse, not better.
Moreover, as mentioned earlier, America's truly liberal government was replaced in the mid-70s by the corporate special interest system, which introduced a conservative agenda of tax cuts for the rich and massive deregulation of business. Corporate lobbyists, and not the interchangeable "Republicrats," have influenced legislation over the past 20 years.
The second most common response is that minorities drag down America's statistics. Of course, blaming minorities for society's problems is an old game in American politics, but it is especially dismaying in this case because it is not even true. Take infant mortality rates, for example. White infant mortality rates still place America near the very top of the list. (The following chart deviates slightly from the chart above because it is taken from the year before, 1990, and from a different source using different methodology. But it shows the same trend nonetheless.)
Infant mortality rates (per 1,000 live births, 1990)6
U.S. (average) 9.2
Italy 8.3
U.S. (white) 7.7
United Kingdom 7.4
France 7.3
Germany 7.1
Canada 6.8
Sweden 6.1
Japan 4.6
And consider crime. In 1992, blacks were arrested for 35 percent of all serious crimes.7 But even if you remove blacks entirely from the statistics, America still has the worst crime rate in the world, and by far! (It should also be emphasized that that these were 35 percent of all arrests; debate rages as to whether the police target blacks for arrest more than whites.)
The same generalization holds for all the statistics, but it is important to realize why minorities are not responsible for America's worse showing. And that is because society's most visible problems do not stem primarily from race; they stem from poverty. The poor, both white and black, share the same approximate rates of crime, welfare, teenage and single parenthood, substance abuse and other social problems. The rich, both white and black, share many of the same admired social qualities in the same general percentages. Race is only important in that discrimination against minorities has relegated a disproportionate number of them to poverty. (More)
Ultimately, the fact that America's white statistics are still worse than Europe's should put the race card forever to rest. White Americans are, after all, transplanted Europeans. If their statistics are worse, then it must be for a social reason. And that reason is obvious: polarized wealth in America has enlarged its poor population, and dragged down its averages despite gains among the rich. Clearly, rising tides do not lift all boats.
Next Section: Final Summary
Return to The Reagan Years Home Page
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1Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics come from the international encyclopedia Where We Stand, by Michael Wolff, Peter Rutten, Albert Bayers III, eds., and the World Rank Research Team (New York: Bantam Books, 1992). The year 1991 was selected because after these dates, the U.S. turned slightly to the left and Northern Europe slightly to the right (although one could plausibly argue that very little changed in any of these nations). Therefore, 1991 provides the best date for comparing a decade of Reaganomics with 30 years of social democracy. Although Where We Stand compares dozens of nations on most lists, I have limited my comparisons to the U.S., Northern Europe, Japan and Canada. I have included every nation from this group I could find; omissions in my lists reflect omissions in Where We Stand.
2Earning power is calculated by deflating each nation’s GNP to local 1991 currency before conversion to U.S. dollar equivalents. GNP figures from U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers, 1991. Data for exchange rates from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
3Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, National Accounts of OECD Countries, annual.
4 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, OECD Health Data, 1993; OECD Health Systems: Facts and Trends, 1993.
5 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, Environmental Indicators, 1991.
6 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, OECD in Figures: Statistics on the Member Countries (supplement to the OECD Observer, June-July 1993).
7 U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, 1992 |
