A fictional television news anchor named Will McAvoy (played by the actor Jeff Daniels) was asked the question, "Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?" His response, shown in the video clip from the premier episode of the HBO television series, The Newsroom, which aired on June 24, 2012, may surprise you. McAvoy replied, "America is not the greatest country in the world."
It's worth reviewing his speech in more detail. McAvoy cites a list of statistical rankings in which the United States of America (U.S.A.) falls far behind its peers, stating at the outset that "there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world." He then goes on to say that the U.S.A. ranks first in only three categories - the number of incarcerated citizens per capita, the number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending ("where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies").
I decided to do my own fact checking, as (1) you can never completely believe what is said on a fictional television show ("Trust, but verify") and (2) the show aired more than a decade ago and perhaps a lot has changed since then. Here is where the U.S.A. ranks on several of the key statistics mentioned (and a few others):
Overall
2024 U.S. News and World Report "Best Countries" Ranking: #3 (actually the highest we've ever ranked since the survey was first launched in 2016)
Economic
2024 Gross Domestic Product (Nominal), according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF): #1
2024 GDP Per Capita (Nominal), according to the IMF: #6
2024 GDP Per Capita, based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), according to the IMF: #8
2021 Median Income Per Capita (Nominal), according to the OECD: #1
2022 Income Inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient), according to the World Bank: #61
2024 Index of Economic Freedom, according to the Heritage Foundation: #25
2024 World Competitiveness Index: #12
2024 Global Innovation Index: #3
Education
2024 World's Best Education System, according to the World Top 20 Project Network: #31
2024 Math Scores on Program for International Assessment (PISA), OECD countries only: #28
2024 Science Scores Program for International Assessment (PISA), OECD countries only: #12
Health Care
2024 Infant Mortality (World Population Review): #57
2020 Maternal Mortality, according to the World Health Organization: #55
2024 Life Expectancy at Birth: #48
Public Policy
2024 Human Freedom Index, according to the Cato Institute: #17
2023 Global State of Democracy (International IDEA): #46
2023 Democracy Index, according to the World Population Review: #29
2024 Corruption Index, according to the World Population Review: #24
Standard of Living
2020 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Better Life Index: #10
2024 Human Development Index, according to the United Nations: #20
2024 World Happiness Report: #23
I should emphasize that not all of these rankings include every country (for example, the OECD rankings only include the 38 member countries of the OECD). In other words, the nominal rankings are probably not as important, as the major point that I am trying to make is that on just about every possible measure, America ranks below many of our peers. As Will McAvoy says, "America is not the greatest country in the world", at least by these particular measures.
I actually couldn't find a ranking for the number of adult citizens who believe in angels, though the polls I did find showed that the majority of Americans do, in fact, believe in angels. In addition, as of 2024, El Salvador (not the U.S.A.) ranks first in the number of incarcerated citizens per capita (America ranks sixth). McAvoy was right on one point - the U.S. far outspends all of our peer nations on military defense (see my next paragraph).
The Wall Street Journal reported that America does rank first among peer nations in the following metrics: Alcohol and drug use burden, Opioid death rate, Drug death rate, Health expenditures per capita, Total number of guns, Guns owned per capita, Bankruptcy filings, and Defense expenditures. America also ranks first among peer nations when it comes to the number of millionaires, the number of billionaires, the number of Nobel Prize winners, the number of valuable companies, the number of movies made, the number of clinical trials, the number of top universities, and the number of astronauts.
So, what can we conclude from all of this? First, the first step to finding a solution is to clearly state the problem. I fully believe that there is no one single measure to define a country's "greatness" (similar to the fact that there is no one single measure to define an organization's "greatness"). "Greatness" remains incredibly difficult - maybe even impossible - to define. I’m not sure that any country has or even could rank first in all of the measures listed above, and even then I’m not sure we could 100% say that that country is "great." As I've stated in the past, "greatness" is likely best measured, if at all, using a portfolio of different measures, each with the appropriate validity and reliability.
Second, there hasn't been a recent decline or even a precipitous one with regards to all of the measures I mentioned above. For example, when I started medical school over 35 years ago, we were already talking about the fact that the U.S.A. spends more on health care than any other nation, yet we do poorly on almost all health outcome measures compared to these same nations. The simple truth is that America has been struggling with performance on many of these measures for quite a long time.
Third, and I apologize for getting just a little political here, government is not completely to blame for the poor performance (relative to other countries) on these measures. However, it's also important to recognize that government isn't the only solution for improving performance on these measures either. America's lack of "greatness" cannot be blamed on any one political party. Neither should we expect that any one political party can fix all of our problems without partnering with the other.
Towards the end of the video clip, Will McAvoy pauses for a second after going off on a tirade about how "America is not the greatest country in the world." He says:
We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one - America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
McAvoy looks back at the moderator and asks, "Enough?" It's a great video clip, and one that I wished more of our political leaders would watch. We do have problems, and we can't solve them unless we first recognize that we have a problem, clearly state it, and work together towards a solution. "Together" is probably the most important word here...
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