Important Points
In general, residents of the US have high personal income, high productivity, large houses, and ready access to higher education. However, compared to the eleven advanced democracies, the US is the most militarized nation, has the highest population growth, the highest concentration of income and wealth among the lowest proportion of residents, the highest child poverty rate, the least successful basic education, the lowest health status, the highest health care costs, high crime, low leisure time, high rates of abortion and teen pregnancy, and low status for women.
The US is not a democracy because the electoral college election process allows the loser of the popular vote to win the nation’s highest office, as happened in 2016. Additionally, the US is the least environmentally sustainable of the compared countries, the most polluting, the most energy consuming and the most dependent on automobiles and fossil fuels.
European Union – In 1957, 10 European countries signed the Treaty of Rome, forming the European Union (EU). By 2007 the EU had 27 countries and 490 million people. The EU, with the exception of the United Kingdom, has the Euro as a unified currency, open borders, free trade, free capital and a coordinated foreign policy. Applicant countries are required to meet standards for democracy and institutional reform.
Race – We have not included international information about race for two main reasons: international statistics are hard to find; and class divisions and ethnic conflict issues are much more important. We agree with Wolff et al. (see Overview Page notes): “…society’s most visible problems do not stem primarily from race; they stem from poverty…The poor, both black and white, share the same approximate rates of crime, welfare, teenage and single parenthood, substance abuse and other social problems.”
Discrimination related to race increases poverty among minorities, but statistics in the US for Whites are worse than for those in Europe. Despite growth of Black middle and upper classes, Blacks in the US in general are doing worse than Whites in health, education, crime, and income. In the US, Hispanics and Native Americans also have serious poverty problems, while Asians are generally even with Whites in these areas.
Quick Facts from the OECD Better Life Index
- Ranks above the average in income, jobs, education, environmental quality, social connections and life satisfaction.
- Ranks below average in work-life balance.
- Average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 51 147 a year, much more than the OECD average of USD 30 490 a year.
- 67% of people aged 15 to 64 in the United States have a paid job, just above the OECD employment average of 66%. About 72% of men are in paid work, compared with 62% of women. In the United States, about 10% of employees work very long hours, in line with the OECS average, with 14% of men working very long hours compared with 7% of women.
- 92% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, much higher than the OECD average of 79%. This is slightly truer of women than men, as 91% of men have successfully completed high-school compared with 92% of women. In terms of the quality of the educational system, the average student scored 495 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), slightly higher than the OECD average of 488. On average in the United States, girls outperformed boys by 5 points.
- Life expectancy at birth in the United States is almost 79 years, two years lower than the OECD average of 81 years. Life expectancy for women is 81 years, compared with 76 for men.
- Level of atmospheric PM2.5 – tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs – is 7.7 micrograms per cubic meter, lower than the OECD average of 14 micrograms per cubic meter.
- Water quality: 88% of people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water, higher than the OECD average of 84%.
- Strong sense of community and moderate levels of civic participation in the United States, where 94% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, higher than the OECD average of 91%.
- Voter turnout, a measure of citizens’ participation in the political process, was 65% during recent elections, lower than the OECD average of 69%. Social and economic status can affect voting rates; voter turnout for the top 20% of the population is an estimated 77% and for the bottom 20% it is an estimated 51%, much broader than the OECD average gap of 13 percentage points, and points to shortcomings in the political mobilization of the worst-off.
- General satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10: 7.0 grade on average, higher than the OECD average of 6.7.