Why so many human development indices favor Scandinavian countries?

[Anonymous]

We’ve seen this debate on here before. Mixed economies leaning more toward social democracy, such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, lauded by the American left, then meeting pushback citing apparent lack of innovation, how Norway would be poor without its gas reserves, or how Sweden is making a right turn due to immigration and so on.

This all being said, various global ratings such as the Freedom House freedom index, the Human Development Index, the Global Happiness Report, World Population Review healthcare ranking, OECD Better Life index and many others, frequently place Northern European countries above the USA.
What do you think these organizations value that places these countries on top versus the US, and do you think it’s justified? Are there other global, reputable, organizations making similar country rankings that place the USA as #1 or in the top 5 for different metrics, for example, say, ease of doing business? What do you think is missing here, or does the USA really only rank as #1 in our own minds?

[Anonymous]

Cue the racists who’ll say it’s because they are homogeneous countries. I have family in both Sweden and Finland and have traveled extensively in both. They are not as homogeneous as people think. Also, not as happy as these “studies” show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cue the racists who’ll say it’s because they are homogeneous countries. I have family in both Sweden and Finland and have traveled extensively in both. They are not as homogeneous as people think. Also, not as happy as these “studies” show.

And yes, I know Finland is not technically Scandinavia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve seen this debate on here before. Mixed economies leaning more toward social democracy, such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, lauded by the American left, then meeting pushback citing apparent lack of innovation, how Norway would be poor without its gas reserves, or how Sweden is making a right turn due to immigration and so on.

This all being said, various global ratings such as the Freedom House freedom index, the Human Development Index, the Global Happiness Report, World Population Review healthcare ranking, OECD Better Life index and many others, frequently place Northern European countries above the USA.
What do you think these organizations value that places these countries on top versus the US, and do you think it’s justified? Are there other global, reputable, organizations making similar country rankings that place the USA as #1 or in the top 5 for different metrics, for example, say, ease of doing business? What do you think is missing here, or does the USA really only rank as #1 in our own minds?

Homogeneous population

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cue the racists who’ll say it’s because they are homogeneous countries. I have family in both Sweden and Finland and have traveled extensively in both. They are not as homogeneous as people think. Also, not as happy as these “studies” show.

Well, not anymore lol...

[Anonymous]

I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

So they are having trouble dealing with diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cue the racists who’ll say it’s because they are homogeneous countries. I have family in both Sweden and Finland and have traveled extensively in both. They are not as homogeneous as people think. Also, not as happy as these “studies” show.

Right, let's see how well Scandinavian countries do when their leftists force them to take in over one million illegal immigrants per year like they do in the US.

[Anonymous]

Diversity is our strength. These matrices are racist.

[Anonymous]

Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

It's funny how Americans are so quick to jump to "they don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country" while forgetting that they probably have an immigrant Italian nonna who came to America at 20 years old yet went to the grave at 80 still barely speaking a lick of English. They forget that in the 1920s most of the major cities in America had newspapers that were published in German, or Italian, or Polish, or a number of other languages, reflecting the language and culture of the immigrants. Assimilation doesn't happen overnight. It didn't for your own ancestors, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Scandinavians have amazing social services. They don't worry about healthcare, retirement or college costs.

I wish we had similar social services here. We can certainly afford it.

[Anonymous]

These indices compare countries that vary enormously by size. When one leaves out countries under 25 million, though still small vis-a-vis the U.S., the U.S. ranks quite high.

In addition, having a national health care system tends to be rated very heavily in these indices, regardless of what the outcomes of that system are, and the U.S. does not have one. Educational performance in grades K-12 also tends to be weighted very heavily and U.S. performance on the international tests is lackluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

It's funny how Americans are so quick to jump to "they don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country" while forgetting that they probably have an immigrant Italian nonna who came to America at 20 years old yet went to the grave at 80 still barely speaking a lick of English. They forget that in the 1920s most of the major cities in America had newspapers that were published in German, or Italian, or Polish, or a number of other languages, reflecting the language and culture of the immigrants. Assimilation doesn't happen overnight. It didn't for your own ancestors, either.

Not really. Very few immigrants in the early 20th century failed to learn at least spoken English. Relatively few passed their native tongue to the next generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think this is a difficult analysis. A strong social safety net including universal healthcare and a guaranteed pension, plus strong worker's rights including guaranteed sick leave, vacation leave, parental leave, etc. And generally high government standards against corruption couple with a belief that government is in existence to work for the people.

Homogeneity definitely helps, but the issue with immigrants isn't just that they look different. It's that many of them don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country.

It's funny how Americans are so quick to jump to "they don't want to assimilate and embrace the culture of their adopted country" while forgetting that they probably have an immigrant Italian nonna who came to America at 20 years old yet went to the grave at 80 still barely speaking a lick of English. They forget that in the 1920s most of the major cities in America had newspapers that were published in German, or Italian, or Polish, or a number of other languages, reflecting the language and culture of the immigrants. Assimilation doesn't happen overnight. It didn't for your own ancestors, either.

It's funny how you focused on one sentence and then went on an irrelevant rant.