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

People in many 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, Monaco is the world’s richest country (GDP per capita), and Singapore has the world’s fastest average internet speeds.

How does the U.S rank in measurable categories?

Number One

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

#1 Civilian Firearm Ownership — Top 20 Countries with the Greatest Numbers of Civilian Firearms (USA Carry)

#1 Mass Shootings — Public Mass Shootings Around the World (Rockefeller Institute Of Government)

#1 Most People in Prison — United States Profile (Prison Policy Initiative)

This graph compares the U.S. incarceration rate to other NATO countries.

#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 — List of countries with highest military expenditures (Wikipedia)

#1 Most Expensive College Education — Average Cost of College By Country (Education Data Initiative)

#1 Most Student Debt — Student Loan Debt Statistics (Ibid)

#1 Children Sentenced To Life Without Parole — Juvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview (The Sentencing Project)

#1 Oil Produced — U.S. Produces More Crude Oil Than Any Country, Ever (BIC Magazine)

#1 Oil consumed — List of countries by oil consumption (Wikipedia)

#1 Basketball popularity — Popularity of Basketball Around the World (Topend Sports)

#1 Most Olympic Medals — Who Has The Most Olympic Medals Of All Time? (CBS News)

#1 Most Nuclear Weapons Used In Warfare — Nuclear warfare (Wikipedia)

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

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)

#2 Nuclear Weapons — Nuclear Weapons Worldwide (Union Of Concerned Scientists)

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

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

#5 Most Prisoners Per Capita — List of countries by incarceration rate (Wikpedia)

#8 Richest Country — List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita (Wikipedia)

#8 Fastest Internet Speed — Speedtest Global Index (Speedtest)

#10 Fastest Mobile Internet Speed — Speedtest Global Index (Speedtest)

#13 Obesity — List of countries by obesity rate (Wikipedia)

#14 Quality Of Life — Which Country Has The Best Quality Of Life (Visual Capitalist)

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

#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 Happiness — World Happiness Report (World Happiness Report)

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

#23 Science Education — (U.S. Students Slide In Global Rank (NPR)

#23 Most Non-religious People — Least Religious Countries 2026 (World Population Review)

#30 Math Education — (U.S. Students Slide In Global Rank (NPR)

#31 Employment Rate — List of countries by employment rate (Wikipedia)

#37 Literacy — Literacy Rate by Country 2026 (World Population Review)

#41 Income Equality — List of countries by income inequality (Wikipedia)

#42 Best Place To Be A Mother — Best And Worst Countries For Mothers (Asher & Lyric)

#43 End-of-Life Care — Quality Of Death (Duke NUS Medical School)

#53 Lowest Infant Mortality Rate — List of countries by infant and under-five mortality rates (Wikipedia)

#55 Life Expectancy — List of countries by life expectancy (Wikipedia)

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

#83 Childhood Vaccination — Vaccination Rates By Country (World Population Review)

#111 Driving Safety — List of countries by traffic-related death rate (Wikipedia)

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

#212 (dead last) Trade Balance — List of countries by net goods exports (Wikipedia)

#Worst in Cycling Safety — Trends In Walking And Cycling Safety (United States Government, NIH)

The United States has much higher fatality and serious injury rates per kilometer than the other countries examined, and has made the least progress in reducing per-capita fatality rates.

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.

EDIT, 2026.04.22: Removed non-working links. Removed links to newly paywalled sites. Updated old information. Removed “Teen Pregnancy” section, since the U.S. was only number one among “high income” countries, but is far down the list when compared to all countries.