Is The American Image Slipping?
Posted on 27 October 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in Health, Society
Is the United States of America slowly losing its position as a world leader and Super Power?
In the latest annual ‘prosperity index’ published by the Legatum Institute, a London-based research firm which inquires into global wealth and wellbeing, the United States ranks as the 9th most prosperous country in the world. That’s five notches lower than last year. Most of the world has endured the recession, but other countries are recovering faster.
China and India have recovered quickly from the recession. Brazil seems to be barreling ahead. Australia is growing faster than expected, prompting worry among government officials, who fear they may have overstimulated the economy. The United States, meanwhile, is muddling through a weak, jobless recovery.
The IMF predicts that the U.S. economy will grow 1.9 percent in 2010. That’s slightly better than the average for all advanced economies, but at least 10 developed nations will grow faster.
In education, American scores 7th place behind, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Greece and Australia.
In the latest global competitiveness report from the World Economic Forum, the United States fell to No. 2. The No. 1 country being Switzerland. The Legatum index, however, ranks America first for entrepreneurship and innovation, with the United Kingdom in 2nd position.
The United States ranks 27th for the health of its citizens. Life expectancy in America is below the average for 30 advanced countries measured by the OECD. The obesity rate in America is the worst among those 30 countries, by far. The top positions in health are held by Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore and Belgium.
In the United Nations’ Human Development Index, which attempts to measure the overall well-being of citizens throughout the world, the United States ranks 13th This is one notch lower than in the previous set of rankings. Norway, Australia, Iceland and Canada are at the top.
The United States ranks 11th in the OECD’s measure of ‘life satisfaction’, behind Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. The United States is one of only four countries where life satisfaction is going down, not up. The other going-down nations are Portugal, Hungary, Canada and Japan. However, the research behind these rankings predates the recession.
In a GfK Roper survey of how nations rate as global ‘brands,’ America rocketed from No. 7 in 2008 to No. 1 in 2009, largely because the world cheered the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president.
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28 October 2009
[...] Read more to find out which countries recovered fastest and where America is still number one on the… [...]
I’m sure all the above is correct, but did have we have to have a skinny black figure (cartoon) accompanying this description of US decline? It is not as if that decline happened on Obama’s watch.
Janice
There was no aspersion intended with the cartoon. They just come in that colour.