Is the United States Still the Best Country in the World? Think Again

Abstract

This paper examines the rankings of the United States in key areas so that people can see for themselves how well the country is actually doing. Areas examined include: percentage of people living below the poverty line, children living in poverty, income inequality, median wealth per adult, happiness, GDP per capita, Corruption Perception Index, quality of education and health, democracy ranking, size of prison population, and stability as a nation. Sadly, the United States does poorly on many of the above measures. The 2015 Social Progress Index, which considers 52 different measures, ranks the United States 16th out of 133 countries. It is hoped that examination of the above statistics will make people aware of how much needs to be done if the United States wants to remain a world power.

Keywords: Ranking of United States, income inequality, Gini coefficient, poverty, social progress index, OECD better Life Index, happiness, Corruption Perception Index, prison population, and Fragile States Index

JEL Classification: A1, A2, Y10