by Jack Lee
Looking for a better place to live? Here are some surprising winners and losers to help you in your quest:
1. Most likely to be assaulted – #1 is South Africa at 12 assaults per 1000. In second place is Montserrat at 10 assaults per 1000 and then Mauritius. The United States is in 6th place with 7.56 assaults per 1000, followed closely by New Zealand and then England with 7.45 assaults per 1000. Mexico comes in at a distant 20th place with 24 assaults per 1000, which makes me wonder if the reporting system in Mexico isn’t flawed?
2. The country with the most car thefts is the country with the most cars, so if you guessed the United States you would be right. We have 4 times more car thefts per capita than the next runner up which is the UK. The safest place to park your unattended Rolls Royce is Qatar.
3. When it comes to economic freedom Hong Kong beats them all. This is the most liberated business environment in the world, despite being in
Communist China. The USA places a mediocre 6th (we’re not nearly as free as we advertise), Singapore was 2nd followed by Luxembourg.
4. When it comes to individual wealth Luxembourg has the highest per capital income, averaging $37,000 per year. Switzerland and Japan followed closely. The United States was a distant 5th in the world with $33,000 per year average.
5. When it comes to adult literacy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Netherlands, Czech Republic and the United Kingdom all beat the United States and in that order.
6. When it comes to health Iceland has the highest incidents of breast cancer, followed by Denmark. The USA was fairly low in 17th place. Nobody spends more on healthcare than the USA, we were #1. Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway followed. (expenditure per capita)
7. The United States is way out in front when it comes to dying. (There goes our healthcare dollars) When all forms of mortality were combined, that is anything from murder to illness, the USA was almost three times higher per capita than the next runner up. The annual deaths in the USA are about 2,403,350 per year. Although you are three times more likely to be stabbed to death in Brazil than the USA. The USA ranked 3rd in the world for stabbing deaths, right behind Columbia. Curiously Brazil and Columbia are ahead of 3rd place USA when it comes to being assaulted with a blunt object.
8. If you live in the USA you are almost 5 times more likely to die in a car wreck than if you lived in the next worst country for vehicle accidents (Spain). South Africa was the safest place to drive a car.
9. When it comes to terrorist deaths per act, where do you think the worst place in the world is to live? If you answered Iraq. . . you would be wrong. It is by far Barbados. 36 deaths per act. The US was 5.88 deaths per act. Iraq was a mere 2.1 deaths per act. But, if you were thinking the total number of deaths per year, then Iraq wins first place with 11,700. The USA came in 2nd place with 3227. Stats were from 1968 through 2006. India placed 3rd with 1556 deaths due to terrorism. Pakistan was next, followed by Israel. Dozens of countries had zero deaths during this period, such as Iceland, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Fiji, Finland and Singapore.
10. Russia is in first place when it comes to exporting arms. The US is second; France and the UK are 3rd and 4th. China is in 13th place. New Zealand, Austria, Iran and Venezuela were the lowest in arms export (of nations of their size and above).
Our thanks to Nationmaster.com for supplying the above facts.