Is America Still No. 1?

This was the title of a piece in the January 14, 2007 Parade magazine.

What does "Number 1" mean, anyway?

Here are some of their statistics...

We are Number One in the World in having:

• 371 Billionaires
• 2004 Olympic Medals - 102 in the Summer Games
• Internet Users - 205,327,000
• Nobel Prize winners - 296
• Military Abroad - 460,000 in 144 Countries
• 3.98 Million Miles of ROADS!
• 14,858 Airports
• and $157.88 Billion in Gold Reserves

...are we to be proud of these "accomplishments"? Wealth isn't bad in itself - neither is sports. Should we be proud of the gas-addicted society that built so many miles of road? Of military might? We are actually #1 in some other areas we shouldn't be proud of.

Where we Lag (OMG!)

• Doctors - 43 Countries have more physicians per capita
• Infant Deaths! - 33 Countries have lower rates - Cuba beats us
• Male Life Expectancy - 27 have better numbers
• MURDERS - 15th Highest!
• #1 PRISIONS - why isn't this on the Whoo-hoo! Leading Side? We ARE NUMBER ONE! WHOO-HOO!
• Women in national legislatures - 72nd
• Voting - (OMG, again!) We are 139th place out of 172 nations!!!!

So, these statistics were in two easy-to-read tables. Here are other factoids from the article.

• #1 Energy Consumption - We lead all nations in consumption of oil A quarter of the world's annual supply. We are also first in nuclear and geothermal energy, 3rd place in solar and wind energy.
• US unemployment rate is 39th - including Mexico!
• Health - first in access to clean water and sanitation facilities
• Maternal Death Rate - 29th place
• Prison - 737 per 100,000
• 4th Highest Execution Rate!!!! - we trail such humanitarian Countries as China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. (C'mon, we can do better!!!)
• 3rd Highest Rape rates, 3rd highest major assaults, and 15th highest murder rate.