Human Development Index; United States?

Question

I allways thought the United States would be like in the top five, but we are only on rank 12! OMG!

Does anyone know why?

Here's a list on wikipidia (just scroll down, then you'll find the list and the United States on rank 12)

Answer 1

Lots of reasons why it wouldn't.

For the United Nation HDI ratings, the two big ones are lower life expectancy at birth and lower education rate:

http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/count...

http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/

For the related Quality of Life Index, add in divorce rate and possibly unemployment rate (the job security metric)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-...

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications...

For other indices where the U.S. does not do so well, consider the poverty rate and the availability of health care, as well as the higher cost of higher education, rate of incarceration, and the lack of equality within the country.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/j...