American Politics

Patrick Kern

Professor Goergen

Portfolio
Assignment #8

If you could
choose anywhere is the world to live, where would you choose? It is
an overwhelming decision when you start to think of all the different
factors involved. After researching and comparing various top ten
lists for top places to live in the world, I have decided that the
country I would move to would be Canada. After much comparison,
there were many countries that continued to show up in almost all of
the research and top ten lists I found. Those countries were Sweden,
Canada, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand,
Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, and the United States. For this
assignment, I will compare my choice of Canada with my two runners up
countries which are Sweden and Australia.

One of the best
sources I found information on this topic was from the 2013 Better
Life Index released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org
. The OECD is an international economic organization of 34 countries
founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It
is a forum of countries committed to democracy and the market
economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek
answers to common problems, and identify good practices and
co-ordinate domestic and international policies of its members. The
website was extremely clear, concise, and loaded with great
information and research.

The five topics
that I will use to compare and contrast the countries are income,
jobs, education, health, and safety. I will start with Canada.

I chose Canada
because it ranked higher overall in the five categories I chose. In
Canada, the average household net-adjusted disposable income is $
28,194 a year, more than the OECD average of $23,047 USD a year and
the average household net worth is estimated at $63,852, much higher
than the average of $40,516. When it comes to jobs, 72% of the
working age population has a paid job, as compared to the OECD
average of 66%. The average amount people earn in $42,253, again
higher than the average of $34,466. When it comes to education
Canada is a top performing OECD country combining reading literacy,
maths and sciences, with a score of 527, as compared with the average
score of 497. In health, 88% of Canadian people reported to be in
good health, way above the average of 69%. Finally, the safety
aspect of Canada finds the lowest rate of assault victims of all the
countries and a low homicide rate of 1.6, lower than the average of
2.2.

In Australia,
the average household net-adjusted disposable income is $28,884 a
year in comparison to the average of $23,047 but the average net
financial household wealth is only $32,178 which is lower than the
average of $40,516. In terms of jobs, 73% of people aged 15-64 have
a paid job and they average $43,908 per year compared with the
average of $34,466. In education, Australia earned a score of 517,
slightly lower than the score of Canada yet still about the overall
average of 497. In health, 85% of people in Australia reported they
were in good health, slightly lower than Canada yet still much higher
than the average of 69%. Finally, in terms of safety, 2.1% of people
reported being victim of assault, lower than the average of 4%. The
homicide rate here is 1, lower than the average of 2.2.

In Sweden, the
average household net-adjusted disposable income is the lowest of the
3 countries I am comparing, but still higher than average at $26,242.
The average net financial wealth of the household is $44,889 higher
than the average of $40,516. With jobs, 74% of the working age
population has a paid job and people earn $37,094 per year on
average, slightly higher than the average of $34,466. Sweden did
score lowest in education, with a score of 496, just under the
average of 497. In health, 80% of people reported good health and in
safety, 5.1% of people reported falling victim of assault, the
highest of the 3 countries, yet the homicide rate is very low
recording a score of 1 as opposed to the average of 2.2.

As
you can see, the numbers favor Canada.