How The U.S.A. Ranks Compared To Other Countries

Most nations have some degree of the “we’re #1” factor — call it nationalism, pride, what have you. The U.S. has no shortage of this, even in the face of mounting statistics that say otherwise. I’ve often heard people say, “Sure, we have [list of problems], but we’re still the best country on the planet.”

“Best” of course is an unqualified superlative and not easily measurable. It’s not measurable like “biggest” or “most expensive”. For example, Qatar is the world’s richest country (GDP per capita), and Hong Kong has the world’s fastest average internet speeds.

How does the U.S rank in measurable categories?

The U.S. is #1 in obesity rates

Number One

Following are the rankings in which the U.S. tops the charts. Almost none of them are “good”, it turns out.

#1 Obesity — America Tops List Of Most Obese Countries (U.S. News)

#1 Civilian Firearm Ownership — How The U.S. Gun Culture Compares With The World In Five Charts (CNN)

#1 Mass Shootings — (Ibid)

#1 Teen Pregnancy Per Capita — Countries Compared — Teen Pregnancy (NationMaster)

#1 Most People in Prison — World Prison Populations (BBC News)

#1 Most Prisoners Per Capita — (Ibid)

#1 Least-Guaranteed Maternity/Paternity Leave — New Dads In Togo Are Guaranteed Something That U.S. Dads Aren’t (NPR)

#1 Spending on Health Care — Health Costs (PBS)

#1 Spending on Military — Countries Spending The Most On The Military (USA Today)

#1 Most Expensive College Education — Undergrads Around the World Face Student Loan Debt (US News)

#1 Most Student Debt — (Ibid)

#1 Children Sentenced To Life Without Parole — UN Expert Slams U.S. As Only Nation To Imprison Kids For Life Without Parole (Al-Jazeera America)

#1 Oil Produced — All The Oil In China (Reuters)

#1 Oil consumed — (Ibid)

#1 Basketball — Can Anyone Beat Team USA? (Guardian)

#1 Most Olympic Medals — Overall Medals ("Olympic")

#1 Most Professing Christians — Global Christianity — A Report On The Size And Distribution Of The World’s Christian Population (Pew Research Center)

The U.S. is #1 in military spending

Top Twenty

Here are the global rankings in which the U.S. places in the rest of the top twenty slots — two through 20. Almost none of them are good either.

#2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions — List Of Countries By CO₂ Emissions (Wikipedia)

#3 Population — List Of Countries By Population (Wikipedia)

#3 Land Area — Largest Countries In The World (By Land Area) (Worldometers)

#7 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Per Capita — List Of Countries By CO₂ Emissions (Wikipedia)

#7 Literacy — Most Literate Nation In The World? (The Washington Post)

#7 Richest Country — An Ambitious Project To Measure The Wealth Of Nations (Quartz)

#9 End-of-Life Care — The Quality Of Death (The Economist Group)

#11 Highest Gun-Death Rate — List Of Countries By Firearm-Related Deaths (Wikipedia)

#16 Quality Of Life — Which Country Has The Best Quality Of Life (Telegraph)

#19 Happiness — World Happiness Report 2017 (World Happiness Report)

#20 Reading Scores — U.S. Students Slide In Global Rank (NPR)

Further Rankings

After the top 20, the U.S. shows up in quite a few other rankings, none as good a showing as most Americans would have you believe.

#23 Science Education — (Ibid)

#30 Math Education — (Ibid)

#33 Best Place To Be A Mother — American Mothers More Likely To Die Than Peers (Save The Children)

#43 Freedom Of The Press — World Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders)

#43 Life Expectancy — Life Expectancy At Birth (CIA World Factbook)

#44 Fastest Mobile Internet Speed — Download Speed By Country (Ookla)

#44 Most Non-religious People — Worldwide Atheism Trend And Pattern (Evolution Space)

#49 Ease of Starting A Business — Ranking Of Economies — Doing Business (The World Bank)

#56 Lowest Infant Mortality Rate — Country Comparison : Infant Mortality Rate (CIA World Fact Book)

#63 Employment Rate — Country Comparison : Unemployment Rate (CIA World Factbook)

#98 Childhood Vaccination — Youth Vaccination Rates By Country (Worth Atlas)

#111 Income Equality — Distribution Of Family Income (CIA World Factbook)

#126 Lowest Homicide Rate — List Of Countries By Intentional Homicide Rate (Wikipedia)

#201 (dead last) Trade Balance — Country Comparison : Current Account Balance (CIA World Factbook)

Edits:

EDIT, 2015.03.15: Added that we’re #1 for worst guarantees of paid maternity/paternity leave, #1 for most expensive colleges, and #1 in student debt totals.

EDIT, 2015.03.19: Added that we’re the only country in the world that sentences children to life without parole.

EDIT, 2015.04.03: Added that we’re #1 in oil production and consumption.

EDIT, 2015.04.12: Added that we’re #2 in greenhouse gas emissions and #10 in emissions per capita.

EDIT, 2018.02.16: Moved this page to a permanent location on my website, rather than on my blog. Updated several broken or out-of-date linkes. Updated several out-of-date rankings. Re-ordered entries to match new rankings. Added entries for gun ownership and mass shootings.