Is America the greatest country in the world?

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anotheratheisthere
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Is America the greatest country in the world?

Post #1

Post by anotheratheisthere »

this post has two sections.

The fist half will just be a list of facts. Objetive statistical data from reputable and trustworthy sources such as the UN or the US DOS. they are in no particular order, I just added them as I found them.

The second half will be my interpretation of what these figures mean, and an invitation to discussion.

FACT: America is the industrialized country with the highest murder rate in the world. A higher rate than many third world countries.

FACT: America is the industrialized country with the highest rape rate in the world

FACT: America is the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. more than China or Cuba. The percentage of people who are deprived of their freedom in America is greater than that in any other country, possibly in History.

FACT: We are the greatest exporters of weapons in the world.

FACT: Over the last 50 years, the US Government has killed more civilians than any other entity in the world.

FACT: 12 countries have a higher Quality of Life/Human Developement Index than the US.

FACT: We rank 38th in life expectancy.

FACT: We rank 48 in Infant Mortality, doing worse than Cuba.

FACT: We rank 19th in literacy. Below Cuba, Estonia, Latvia, Barbados, Slovenia, Lithuania, Armania, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Russia and more.

FACT: Our children rank in the bottom half amoung industrialized countries in math skills, scientific knowledge and problem solving skillls.

FACT: We have a larger percentage of people living below the poverty line than at least 7 countries, according to the CIA, and 12 countries according to the UN

FACT: We are the only industrialized country where people go bankrupt if they get sick

FACT: We are the only industrialized country where if you can't afford life saving surgery, you die.

FACT: We have more obese people per capita than any country in the world.

FACT: We have more obese people in the military per capita than any country in the world

FACT: We are ranked 37th in quality of healthcare

FACT: We spend more money per capita on healthcare than any country in the world.

FACT: We spend more money on war (aka "National Defense") than any other country. More than all countries in Europe combined.

FACT: We waste more energy per capita than any country in the world.

FACT: We drink more water per capita than any country in the world.

FACT: We are not number 1 in high school or college graduation rate

FACT: We are not the number 1 in post graduate degree issuance rate

FACT: We rank 20th in internet access as a percentage of the total population.

FACT: 14 countries have more Nobel recepients per capita than the US. Among the countries that beat us, 3 are third world countries.

FACT: We have the greatest income inequality in the civilized world. We are the only industrialized country in the world where the top 1% has more money than the bottom 95%. (South Africa beats us, but I am not sure if it counts as a developed nation)

FACT: We have the highest teen birth rate and teen abourtion rate in the undustrialized world. More than double that of most European countries.

FACT: 9 countries have more income per capita than the US. If you incorporate income inequality in the equation, or if you exclude the top 1% from the calculation, the median "Middle Class" American has lower income per capita than almost all European countries.

FACT: The average US Soldier has a lower net worth than the average soldier in 11 European countries.

FACT: We have one of the lowest voter turnout rate in the civilized world.

FACT: We have more serial killers per capita than any country in the world.

FACT: We have the greatest rate of pedophilia in the world.

FACT: In America, a lower percentage of people have a passport, or has ever visited a foreign country, than in any Eurpoean country.

FACT: Less people speak a 2nd language in America than in any country in Europe.

FACT: Less people know the name of their chief executive in America, than in any other European Country.

FACT: Less people know what form of Government their country has in America than anywhere in Europe.

FACT: THe US ranks 97th on the "Global Peace Index", which measures the peacefulness of a country.

FACT: 4 countries are rated Higher than the US on the Wall street Journal's "Index of Economic Freedom"

FACT: The US ranks 48th on the Press Freedom Index

FACT: The US has a higher suicide rate than 22 other countries

FACT: The US has more incest per capita than any industrialized country

FACT: The US ranks 151st on GDP Growth Rate, meaning 150 countries are getting richer at a faster rate than the US is.

FACT: The US ranks 30th in the Privacy Index, which determines the degree to which citizens are protected from corporate and governmental surveilance.

FACT: The US ranks 39th in the Environmental Performance Index, which measures the degree to which a country's policies avoids damaging the environment.

FACT: America is the only country in the civilized world where "Intelligent design" is actually taught in science classrooms.

FACT: America is the country in which the highest percentage of the population thinks Chrsitianity predates Judaism.

FACT: Among industrialized countries, America has the largest percentage of people who think the world is flat, largest percentage who think the world is literally 6000 years old, and largest percentage of people who think the sun orbits around the earth.

FACT: America is the country with the largest arsenal of nulear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

I don't know if I have much of a conclusion to make, except maybe this:

People who say "America is the greatest country in the world" are delusional.

I can understand a statement such as "I love my country more than anything in the world" because it's a subjective statement. I can even understand "America is a great country", or "America's creation (except for slavery and the genocide of native americans) was an amazing new experiment in democracy and freedom, which can be matched by no more than a half dozen similarly great phenomenons"

But a statement such as "America is the greatest country in the world" is an objective, quantifiable and demonstrably false statement.

One could say "America is the strongest military power in the world, although comunist China owns our ass economically, so military might doesn't really matter that much, since we couldn't get away with using it against anybody other than 3rd world countries".

One could say "America used to be the greatest country in the world, before Asia had emerged, and when Europe was still trying to rebuild itself after WWII", but how is that relevant to the current situation?

Ok, maybe I'm wrong. I'd LOVE TO be wrong. If somebody has a rational explanation for how America is the Greatest Country in the World, please let me know.
Last edited by anotheratheisthere on Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post #11

Post by Wyvern »

People that state that america is the greatest nation in the world are merely putting into words their patriotic zeal. Trying to turn this statement into a literal fact is just plain silly and trying to refute this statement with facts is sillier still. Using your criteria I would challenge you to find ANY nation that is the best in every category you list, it doesn't exist.

Additionally some of your facts are questionable at best and none take into account the historic or political realities that set them into motion. For example you state that america has fewer people that speak a second language than any country in Europe. Of course this is true but it also does not take into account why it is true. North America consists of three countries of which there are only two widespread languages(english and spanish with a few pockets of french and native languages). Europe on the other hand consists of over thirty countries in a smaller area in which there are thirteen FAMILIES of languages alone. So yes your fact is true but it is logical and reasonable for the facts to be as they are. The same is true of your claim of foreign country visitation. I live in a state that borders Canada but even so to get there it would take a drive of over six hours to get there. Europe on the other hand in the same time you could easily pass through six countries in that same six hour period. If you are going to make a claim please compare apples to apples instead of picking cherries.

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Post #12

Post by anotheratheisthere »

Wyvern wrote: Using your criteria I would challenge you to find ANY nation that is the best in every category you list, it doesn't exist.
That's true, but nonetheless there is a country that in number one in each of those categories, and the US ain't it.

And there are multiple countries that aren't number one in many (or any) of them, but are still ranked higher than the US in almost all of them.
Wyvern wrote: Additionally some of your facts are questionable at best and none take into account the historic or political realities that set them into motion. For example you state that america has fewer people that speak a second language than any country in Europe. Of course this is true but it also does not take into account why it is true. North America consists of three countries of which there are only two widespread languages(english and spanish with a few pockets of french and native languages). Europe on the other hand consists of over thirty countries in a smaller area in which there are thirteen FAMILIES of languages alone. So yes your fact is true but it is logical and reasonable for the facts to be as they are. The same is true of your claim of foreign country visitation. I live in a state that borders Canada but even so to get there it would take a drive of over six hours to get there. Europe on the other hand in the same time you could easily pass through six countries in that same six hour period. If you are going to make a claim please compare apples to apples instead of picking cherries.
I gladly concede that point. The historical situation that brough about any particular situation is not irrelevat, and should be taken into account. I never argued otherwise

The language and travel issues are perfect example, thanks for bringing them up. Another good example is the amount of genocide we committed. It's not necessarily because we are more evil, it's just that we had way more natives to exterminate than the Italians or the Swiss did! The natives were already here, so of course it was easier for us to exterminate them then it would be for other countries without local natives to murder. Stuff like this must be taken into account.

And talking about cherry picking, you decide to ignore the overwhelming, fully sourced, irrefutable data about murder, incarceration, infant mortality, healthcare ranking, quality of life, literacy, teen pregnancy etc, and instead choose to address the passport and travel issues, which are relatively benign and irrelevant issues.

Does that say anything about the honesty with which you're addressing the broader topic?

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Post #13

Post by JoeyKnothead »

Is America the greatest country in the world?

After reading the OP's facts, which I won't argue, I'd still say yes.

I object to being considered delusional for not agreeing with the OP. If one wants to use the worst aspects of America to make a determination of its greatness, then it must also consider the worst aspects of those nations used in that comparison. We've got our problems, and its a good thing to point them out, but the OP has cherry picked the data, as evidenced by not one mention of where we do lead. I would contend it is "delusional" to cherry pick data to support one's position, and indicative of one who doesn't understand the very complex issues involved.

I ask the observer to consider where they'd rather live, the US or anywhere else. Make that decision and I s'pose you've found your greatest country.

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Post #14

Post by McCulloch »

Some interesting comparisons:
http://www.nationmaster.com

GDP (per capita)
[row]# 1[col]Luxembourg: [col]$89,563.63[row]# 2[col]Norway: [col]$66,964.36[row]# 3[col]Iceland:[col]$53,029.30[row]# 4[col]Ireland:[col]$52,892.89[row]# 5[col]Qatar:[col]$52,239.72[row]# 6[col]Switzerland:[col]$51,032.66[row]# 7[col]Denmark: [col]$50,702.00[row]# 8 [col]United States:[col]$44,155.00[row]# 9[col]Sweden:[col]$42,553.49[row]# 10[col]Netherlands:[col]$40,167.13[row]# 11 [col]Finland:[col]$39,855.93[row]# 12[col]Austria:[col]$39,131.37[row]# 13[col]United Kingdom:[col]$38,849.97[row]# 14[col]Canada:[col]$38,439.78[row]# 15[col]Australia:[col]$37,433.85[row][col]Weighted average:[col]$9,875.07
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database and CIA World Factbook

The USA is one of the richest nations in the world.

Health Spending Per person
[row]# 1[col]United States:[col]4,271[row]# 2[col]Switzerland:[col]3,857[row]# 3[col]Norway:[col]3,182[row]# 4[col]Denmark:[col]2,785[row]# 5[col]Luxembourg:[col]2,731[row]# 6[col]Iceland:[col]2,701[row]# 7[col]Germany:[col]2,697[row]# 8[col]France:[col]2,288[row]# 9[col]Japan:[col]2,243[row]# 10[col]Netherlands:[col]2,173[row]# 11[col]Sweden:[col]2,145[row]# 12[col]Belgium:[col]2,137[row]# 13[col]Austria:[col]2,121[row]# 14[col]Canada:[col]1,939[row]# 15[col]Australia:[col]1,714[row] # 16[col]Finland:[col]1,704[row]# 17[col]Italy:[col]1,676[row]# 18[col]United Kingdom:[col]1,675[row]# 19[col]Israel:[col]1,607[row]# 20[col]Ireland:[col]1,569
SOURCE: World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators 2002. CD-ROM. Washington, DC

Americans spend more on health than anyone else.

Yet, they rank #47 in life expectancy at birth, behind Macau, Andorra, Japan, Singapore, San Marino, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Guernsey, Israel, Iceland, Anguilla, Cayman Islands, New Zealand, Italy, Gibraltar, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Spain, Norway, Jersey, Greece, Austria, Malta, Faroe Islands, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Martinique, Germany, Belgium, Guam, Virgin Islands, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, United Kingdom, Finland, Isle of Man, Jordan, Korea, South, Puerto Rico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bermuda, Saint Helena and Cyprus.

It seems to me that they have difficulty getting value for their dollars spent on health.
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Post #15

Post by McCulloch »

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anotheratheisthere wrote: I am not your mommy, I am not your daddy, I am not your nanny and I am not your babysitter. I am not in the business of spoon feeding you.
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Not only are you a Christian so ignorant about your own religion that you don't know one its central pillars, but you are so lazy that you can't even look it up before doubting its existence and exposing yourself to ridicule.
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Post by McCulloch »

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Post #17

Post by McCulloch »

Child maltreatment deaths per 100,000 children
[row]Tied for first place[col]Mexico [col]2.2[row]Tied for first place[col]United States [col]2.2[row]3 [col]Hungary [col]1.2[row]4 [col]New Zealand [col]1.2[row]5 [col]Austria [col]0.9[row]6 [col]Switzerland [col]0.8[row]Tie [col]Canada [col]0.7[row]Tie [col]Finland [col]0.7[row]Tie [col]Denmark [col]0.7[row]Tie [col]Australia [col]0.7
SOURCE: UNICEF

Pretty good for what some call a Christian nation!
Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
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cnorman18

Is America the greatest country in the world?

Post #18

Post by cnorman18 »

joeyknuccione wrote:Is America the greatest country in the world?

After reading the OP's facts, which I won't argue, I'd still say yes.

I object to being considered delusional for not agreeing with the OP. If one wants to use the worst aspects of America to make a determination of its greatness, then it must also consider the worst aspects of those nations used in that comparison. We've got our problems, and its a good thing to point them out, but the OP has cherry picked the data, as evidenced by not one mention of where we do lead. I would contend it is "delusional" to cherry pick data to support one's position, and indicative of one who doesn't understand the very complex issues involved.

I ask the observer to consider where they'd rather live, the US or anywhere else. Make that decision and I s'pose you've found your greatest country.
I tend to agree with Joey. One measure of how "great" a country is, as good as any other definition of the term, is how many people THINK it is - especially among those who don't live there and aren't citizens. Here are some statistics, referenced on Wikipedia, that you didn't choose to share:

"The Immigration and Naturalization Services Act of 1965 abolished national-origin quotas fixed in the 1920s and opened the nation's shores to new immigrants. Today, the United States accepts more legal immigrants as permanent residents than the rest of the world combined." (Xinhua News Service, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006- ... 215770.htm)

"The number of immigrants [to the United States] nationwide reached an all-time high of 37.5 million in 2006." (The Washington Post & The Associated Press, 9/12/07, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00071.html)

"Recent surveys by Gallup found roughly 700 million adults would like to migrate to another country permanently if they had the chance. The United States is the top desired destination country." ("700 Million Worldwide Desire to Migrate Permanently". Gallup.com, http://www.gallup.com/poll/124028/700-M ... ently.aspx)

"Since World War II, more refugees have found homes in the U.S. than any other nation and more than two million refugees have arrived in the U.S. since 1980 (representing less than 1% of the entire United States population). Of the top ten countries accepting resettled refugees in 2006, the United States accepted more than twice as much as the next nine countries combined." ("Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America". Migration Information Source. March 2007, http://www.migrationinformation.org/Usf ... cfm?ID=585. Retrieved 30 October 2009.)

They say people "vote with their feet." If that's true, then the vote seems to be in.

My own position? I think America has the POTENTIAL to be the greatest country in the world by almost any measure. It has not, so far, lived up to its potential, in some areas to a truly execrable degree. That seems to me to be a reasonable, non-propagandistic, non-jingoistic, and non-partisan way to express it.

Now, I would say again that your CHOICE of the facts you wish to examine is a measure of bias here, whether your facts are accurate or not; it frankly looks like you just went to Google and started searching for all the negative statistics you could find. I would bet that you discarded a lot of "facts" that you looked for but couldn't back up - one being that the US is the world's leading exporter of small arms, a claim that you've made in the past and that's notably missing here. "Hand arms" is the term you used, if I recall correctly.

And as long as we're on the subject, I'd like to see your source for this:
anotheratheisthere wrote:
Among industrialized countries, America has the largest percentage of people who think the world is flat, largest percentage who think the world is literally 6000 years old, and largest percentage of people who think the sun orbits around the earth.
That's the kind of claim that could come from a polemic site and have nothing to do with actual research or reliable statistics. The same could be said for some other "facts" you have posted. Without a link or reference, no one here has any reason to take these claims any more seriously or discuss their significance. Again, your agenda in choosing the facts you want to highlight is showing.

You are entitled to your opinion, whatever it is - all I can fairly gather from what you've posted is that you don't think America is the greatest country in the world, which is of course a perfectly reasonable and rational opinion to hold. I don't know that it was worth going to all this much trouble to prove it.

I'll put my moderator hat on for a moment just to caution you to pay attention to what you've been told, by McCulloch and others. Insults and sarcasm are not acceptable here. You can hold whatever negative opinion of other posters that you like, but keep it to yourself. We do debates, not mudfights - and the fact that some occasionally get away with it isn't license to do it all you want, too. It's like speeding; if the cop sees you and isn't busy doing something else, you get a ticket.

Further, when you do Internet research, you post a link. Telling others to "look it up themselves" has been discredited as an argument here since long before you showed up, and you're going to get flamed if you try to use it. Those are the standards of the community; if you don't like them, that's too bad, but you don't get to come in and insist that we change our standards for debate, let alone insult those who expect you to keep to them. That's being wrong twice.

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Post #19

Post by McCulloch »

Yes, the United States takes in a larger share of the world's immigrants than any other nation. However, it would seem more relevant to look proportionally at how many stay.
SOURCE: Wikipedia: List of countries by immigrant population

Immigrants as percentage of state population
[mrow] [mcol] Number of immigrants [mcol] as a percentage of the national population [row] United Arab Emirates [col] 3,212,000 [col] 71.4 [row] Kuwait [col] 1,669,000 [col] 62.11 [row] Palestinian territories [col] 1,680,000 [col] 45.38 [row] Singapore [col] 1,843,000 [col] 42.6 [row] Hong Kong (PR China) [col] 2,999,000 [col] 42.59 [row] Jordan [col] 2,225,000 [col] 39.01 [row] Israel [col] 2,661,000 [col] 37.87 [row] Saudi Arabia [col] 6,361,000 [col] 25.25 [row] Switzerland [col] 1,660,000 [col] 22.89 [row] Australia [col] 4,097,000 [col] 19.93 [row] Canada [col] 6,200,000 [col] 18.76 [row] Kazakhstan [col] 2,502,000 [col] 16.88 [row] Austria [col] 1,234,000 [col] 14.9 [row] Ukraine [col] 6,833,000 [col] 14.7 [row] Côte d'Ivoire [col] 2,371,000 [col] 13.06 [row] United States [col] 38,355,000 [col] 12.81 [row] Germany [col] 10,144,000 [col] 12.31 [row] Sweden [col] 1,117,000 [col] 12.3 [row] Belarus [col] 1,191,000 [col] 12.21 [row] Spain [col] 4,790,000 [col] 10.79 [row] France [col] 6,471,000 [col] 10.18 [row] Netherlands [col] 1,638,000 [col] 10.05
[mrow] Countries [mcol] Foreign population as % of total population; [row] Luxembourg: [col] 37.3 [row] New Zealand: [col] 24.2 [row] Australia: [col] 23.6 [row] Switzerland: [col] 19.3 [row] Canada: [col] 17.4 [row] United States: [col] 10.4 [row] Austria: [col] 9.3 [row] Germany: [col] 8.9 [row] Belgium: [col] 8.8 [row] France: [col] 5.6 [row] Sweden: [col] 5.4 [row] Denmark: [col] 4.8 [row] Netherlands: [col] 4.1 [row] Norway: [col] 4.1 [row] United Kingdom: [col] 4 [row] Ireland: [col] 3.3 [row] Italy: [col] 2.4 [row] Spain: [col] 2.2 [row] Portugal: [col] 2.1 [row] Czech Republic: [col] 2 [row] Finland: [col] 1.8 [row] Japan: [col] 1.3 [row] Hungary: [col] 1.3 [row] Mexico: [col] 0.5 [row] Slovakia: [col] 0.5 [row] Korea, South: [col] 0.4 [row] Poland: [col] 0.1
SOURCE: OECD
CNorman wrote: They say people "vote with their feet." If that's true, then the vote seems to be in.
Taking proportion and the keep ratio into account, the vote does not seem to be the landslide you may have wished for.

Also one should be looking at the net migration, the gain of immigrants over the loss of emigrants.
Australia has a net gain of 6.34 migrants per 1,000 population; Canada has a net gain of 5.62 migrants per 1,000 population; South Africa has a net gain of 4.98 migrants per 1,000 population; Hong Kong has a net gain of 4.55 migrants per 1,000 population; whereas the United States has only a net gain of 2.92 migrants per 1,000 population.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
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The truth will make you free.
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cnorman18

Per capita?

Post #20

Post by cnorman18 »

McCulloch wrote:Yes, the United States takes in a larger share of the world's immigrants than any other nation. However, it would seem more relevant to look proportionally at how many stay.
SOURCE: Wikipedia: List of countries by immigrant population

Immigrants as percentage of state population
[mrow] [mcol] Number of immigrants [mcol] as a percentage of the national population [row] United Arab Emirates [col] 3,212,000 [col] 71.4 [row] Kuwait [col] 1,669,000 [col] 62.11 [row] Palestinian territories [col] 1,680,000 [col] 45.38 [row] Singapore [col] 1,843,000 [col] 42.6 [row] Hong Kong (PR China) [col] 2,999,000 [col] 42.59 [row] Jordan [col] 2,225,000 [col] 39.01 [row] Israel [col] 2,661,000 [col] 37.87 [row] Saudi Arabia [col] 6,361,000 [col] 25.25 [row] Switzerland [col] 1,660,000 [col] 22.89 [row] Australia [col] 4,097,000 [col] 19.93 [row] Canada [col] 6,200,000 [col] 18.76 [row] Kazakhstan [col] 2,502,000 [col] 16.88 [row] Austria [col] 1,234,000 [col] 14.9 [row] Ukraine [col] 6,833,000 [col] 14.7 [row] Côte d'Ivoire [col] 2,371,000 [col] 13.06 [row] United States [col] 38,355,000 [col] 12.81 [row] Germany [col] 10,144,000 [col] 12.31 [row] Sweden [col] 1,117,000 [col] 12.3 [row] Belarus [col] 1,191,000 [col] 12.21 [row] Spain [col] 4,790,000 [col] 10.79 [row] France [col] 6,471,000 [col] 10.18 [row] Netherlands [col] 1,638,000 [col] 10.05
[mrow] Countries [mcol] Foreign population as % of total population; [row] Luxembourg: [col] 37.3 [row] New Zealand: [col] 24.2 [row] Australia: [col] 23.6 [row] Switzerland: [col] 19.3 [row] Canada: [col] 17.4 [row] United States: [col] 10.4 [row] Austria: [col] 9.3 [row] Germany: [col] 8.9 [row] Belgium: [col] 8.8 [row] France: [col] 5.6 [row] Sweden: [col] 5.4 [row] Denmark: [col] 4.8 [row] Netherlands: [col] 4.1 [row] Norway: [col] 4.1 [row] United Kingdom: [col] 4 [row] Ireland: [col] 3.3 [row] Italy: [col] 2.4 [row] Spain: [col] 2.2 [row] Portugal: [col] 2.1 [row] Czech Republic: [col] 2 [row] Finland: [col] 1.8 [row] Japan: [col] 1.3 [row] Hungary: [col] 1.3 [row] Mexico: [col] 0.5 [row] Slovakia: [col] 0.5 [row] Korea, South: [col] 0.4 [row] Poland: [col] 0.1
SOURCE: OECD
CNorman wrote: They say people "vote with their feet." If that's true, then the vote seems to be in.
Taking proportion and the keep ratio into account, the vote does not seem to be the landslide you may have wished for.

Also one should be looking at the net migration, the gain of immigrants over the loss of emigrants.
Australia has a net gain of 6.34 migrants per 1,000 population; Canada has a net gain of 5.62 migrants per 1,000 population; South Africa has a net gain of 4.98 migrants per 1,000 population; Hong Kong has a net gain of 4.55 migrants per 1,000 population; whereas the United States has only a net gain of 2.92 migrants per 1,000 population.
SOURCE: All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008
Per capita rates are relevant how?

In absolute numbers, the US has accepted more than three times as many immigrants as the nation in second place (Russia, for the record). I don't see that that translates into "how many stay" compared to other nations.

If five people move into Andorra, their per capita immigration rate probably doubles. So what?

For the record, I don't claim that the US is the greatest country in the world; but a helluvalot of people sure seem to think so. I think that's relevant, too. Maybe we DO all the terrible things that are stated and implied here, but that doesn't seem to matter to the people who are trying to get here any way they can. The benefits of being an American appear to outweigh the disadvantages, in their collective opinion.

I just don't think wholesale pillorying of any nation is particularly useful. We can talk about ONE of those statistics and discuss its significance and the reasons for it, as has been done with multilingualism; but trying to find the significance of all of them at once, without examination and to the exclusion of many and very much less damning facts, seems to me to be an exercise in propaganda. In this case, it appears to be nothing more than an attempt to validate an obviously anti-American agenda which remains carefully unstated.

If anyone wants to talk about what can be DONE about any of those facts - assuming that after examination it's worth trying to do anything - is one thing; but just waving various bloody shirts wholesale, all at once, and in effect crowing, "Look how awful America is!"- well, I don't see a lot of point in it.

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