United States Now Rated 16 in the Best Places to Live Survey

Written by Andrew Puhanic
Published on Friday, November 30th, 2012
Globalist Report

Once considered to be one of the worlds most desirable countries to live in, the United States of America was rated a dismal 16 in the worlds most desirable place to live survey.

Research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a subsidiary of The Economist, has revealed that Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Finland and Switzerland are considered to be more desirable places to live than the once mighty United States of America.

Switzerland, the country that was considered to be the best place to live and be born, fared much higher than the United States when respondents were asked about their quality of life.

Participants of the survey were asked a series of questions that revolved around the following topics:

• Material well-being (measured by GDP per head)
• Life expect­ancy at birth
• The quality of their family life
• The climate of political freedom
• Employment and Job se­curity
• How secure the respondent felt in their community
• Quality of community life
• How well the Government was performing
• The quality of gender equality

In all, the survey took into account more than 11 indicators.

Overall, it was revealed that people who were born in Switzerland tended to be happier than their peers from the Unites States and had far greater opportunities and received far greater support from their government (ie. Health Care)

Interestingly though, it has only taken the United States of America 12 years to fall from #1 in 1998 as the best place to live.

So why has the United States fallen from it’s pedestal?

1. The economic recovery promised by the United States Government from the recent Global Financial Crisis has not eventuated. Countries like Australia and Canada either did not bear the full brunt of the GFC and recovered much quicker from the GFC than the United States did.
2. The current unemployment rate is 7.9%. Many of the countries above the United States have much lower levels of unemployment. Australia (5.4%), Switzerland (2.8%), Singapore (1.09%) and  Canada (7.4%)
3. Just over a third of Adults in the Unites States are Obese.
4. Confidence in the ability of the American Government to govern is at an all time low.
5. 10 years of wars, conflict and defeat has left the American people feeling defeated.

Although this survey sheds some light into the plight of the United States, overall, the United States of America is a far better place to live than many other countries.

What will it take for the people of the United States to stand-up and recover what they once cherished so proudly?