interesting statistics

Fellow blogger Steven at Projections pointed out in a post that the U.S. has fallen to the rank of 49th in the world for life expectancy.  That got me wondering what our rank would be in other areas. Here is what I found:

Level of Education - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development places the United States 18th among the 36 nations examined. (In South Korea 93% of high school students graduate compared to 75% in the U.S.) USA Today, Nov. 2008.

Infant Mortality - The U.S. ranks 180 among 224 (224 being the lowest mortality rate) with a rate of 6.24 infant deaths per 100 live births. CIA World Fact Book, 2010

Home Ownership - Portugal          85% home ownership
                               Canada           82%
                               Norway          77%
                               Spain              77%
                               Belgium          71%
                               United States  69%
                               Israel              69%
        
           Wikipedia

Retirement Systems -   Netherlands
                                    Australia
                                    Sweden
                                    Canada
                                    United Kingdom
                                    United States
                                    Chile
                                    Singapore
                                    Germany
                                    China
                                    Japan

                Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - ranked countries in late 2009 based on the   adequacy, sustainability and integrity of their public and private pension systems.

Quality of Health Care  - U.S. Ranks ranks 37th while spending 82% more per person.
            Economic Productivity Report by Michael Hodges, March 2007

Americans are used to thinking better of our country than the image created by these figures.