America Is Far from #1 [View all]
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/america-far-1
"The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, by the World Economic Forum, is t he latest annual ranking of 144 countries, on a wide range of factors related to global economic competitiveness .
On each of their many rankings, #1 represents the best nation, and #144 represents the worst nation.
Gross Domestic Product is the only factor where the U.S. ranks as #1, which we do both on "GDP and on GDP as a Share of World GDP.
Health Care has the U.S. ranking #34 on Life Expectancy, and #41 on Infant Mortality.
Education in the U.S. is also mediocre. On Quality of Primary Education, we are #38. On Primary Education Enrollment Rate, we are #58. On Quality of the Educational System, we are #28. On Quality of Math and Science Education, we are #47. On Quality of Scientific Research Institutions, we are #6. On PCT [Patent Cooperation Treaty] Patent Applications [per-capita], we are #12. On Firm-Level Technology Absorption (which is an indicator of business-acceptance of inventions), we are #14.