this is a fun graph and a reason why aggregated info graphics are often useless.
The Economist writes that they used 10 indicators (of 24, no clear reason stated why they left out so many, and it seems not to be apparent which ones they used), it is much more interesting to look at the country data directly - here’s the page for the US.
take a look at a few categories:
housing: the US has a good rating here. rank 2 in rooms/person! rank 7 in expenditure! but the actual comparison to e.g. France (rank 18 in rooms/person! rank 21 in expenditure!)? not that impressive, the US is not a paradise. the difference are .6 rooms/person and 2.6 percentage points in expenditure. imo the result is not unexcpected: rich countries are not far apart from each other
health: the detailed data for the US is not that excellent (e.g. life expectancy, only rank 26) - with one big out-lier: the self-reported health, a respectable third place. the Germans on the other hand are grumblers and only happy when they are unhappy: the self-reported health is a mortifying 26th place.
civic engagement: the first three places are Australia, Belgium and Mexico. no wonder, one indicator is voter turnout. all three countries have compulsory voting…
I’ve been a loyal Economist subscriber, probably since before you were born (based on the average demographics on this site), so I know to pay attention to all the details in a chart. Notice the * after the title “Better-life index”?
*Based on 10 normalised indicators
So, which 10 of the 24 indicators did The Economist pick out? THEY DON’T SAY. Which is unusually opaque for them, actually.
Over the past three years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has released an alternative called the “Better-Life Index”. It tracks around 24 indicators in 11 categories. Some are easily quantifiable, like jobs (which includes unemployment and income), while others are more woolly, like civic engagement and community. Ever diplomatic, the OECD does not provide a score for countries, though you can see their rankings here. The Economist has crunched the numbers for 10 indicators for which the OECD provide data to place countries in a range of how the best off and least well-off in society fare, measured as the top and bottom 10% of the population by income and education. It conforms to stereotype. The better-off Americans enjoy the best lives, but the country has the widest inequality.
Here’s the OECD site, which has a fun interactive: Better Life Index.
I just thought of something else: the graphic is from 2013; e.g. when Obama was well in office and supposedly the country was in such a decline that we needed Trump to MAGA.
So, which is it? Was the country doing great, or not?
A quarter of our children live in poverty. If we’re so great, why do we have extreme inequality like that? Especially in a country that claims to be all about “family values”?
you honestly used this article again as source? without even trying to address the criticism?
the wisegeek “article” is completely worthless, the data point “the poorest Americans in the lowest 5% income range still enjoy a greater level of wealth than the richest 5% in the nation of India” (citation?) without comparing the relative value of money in the US and India gives no information.
if I had to choose I want to become one of the richest 5% Indians
Can corroborate this; I’m a poor American living in poverty (<$800/month); was able to visit my fiancee in Germany around New Years only because she helped me pay for the bulk of the ticket, and we had to scrap the bottom of the barrel… yet the standard of living there is much higher than it is in the US for middle class in terms of affordability of food, transportation, and various necessities. And my fiancee is not exactly well-heeled; she was only minimum wage less than a year and a half ago.
ETA Having a car and cell phone are not indicators of a high standard of living given that cell phones are so ubiquitous it’s expected that a person will have one and even in many urban areas public transportation is very poor or even nonexistent.
So do I (despite some winter-induced issues with said shiny car), because I’m an independent contracted tutor and I need to be able to coordinate with my clients and go to meet with them. I’m drowning in debt and am only able to make rent and bills with help from my parents, and I know how lucky I am to have that resource.
Dr TigKiwi prescribes some Socialism. Retroactively take 72 annual courses and the symptoms ought to clear right up.
It worked fine for all the other patients in the same civilisation. You might have some harmless side effects like Parliamentary Democracy and a constitutional monarchy. Most patients find them harmless, or even beneficial.
I have actually been to France and Germany; my brother is married to a German woman. Your claim about French or German middle class being destitute does not match my experiences, not by a long shot.
