Frankly I think we need to establish a definition for comparable if you're going to nitpick the numbers of infant mortality rates and life expectancy between two modern Western democracies. The average infant mortality rate in Canada is 4.4 deaths per thousand, is that comparable to the EU? The UAE is sitting pretty at 4 per thousand so that's obviously more comparable than Canada. Russia's at 6.42 so they're out.

Anyway, my point is those numbers are comparable when there are countries like Mexico, Brazil and India out there with an infant mortality rate of 11, 12.5 and 25 deaths per thousand, respectively.

(For the record I don't think the US is a better place to live than the EU, I just don't think it's worse either.)

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ioasuncvinvaer 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

The numbers seem perfectly comparable though?

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StopDisinfo910 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]

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nozzlegear 5 days ago | parent [-]

>You really think the USA having nearly twice as big an infant mortality rate is nitpicking?

Come on, are you going to make my argument so easy? Twice of two drops of nothing is four drops of nothing. You're nitpicking numbers that frankly don't make a difference because they're too close to matter. But don't argue with me, argue with the author of the article where you can see all of the data and comparisons for yourself.

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miltonlost 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

[flagged]

	▲	nozzlegear 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		We're talking about statistics here, don't moralize at me for not putting your preferred amount of reverence around the number at hand.

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StopDisinfo910 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The difference between the US and the EU is the same that between the US and Kazakhstan. I’m sorry but that’s not a small difference at all.

The US infant mortality rate is shameful. Not as shameful as its poverty and homelessness rates but still shameful anyway.

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nozzlegear 5 days ago | parent [-]

And the difference between Romania's mortality rate and Italy's mortality rate is shameful, how could the EU let there be such a stark gap between them?

I'm just not interested in nitpicking superfluous numbers with you. You've got the data in front of you showing that outcomes are, by and large, the same across the US and Europe, but you've decided to plant some jingoistic flag on a molehill of miniscule differences when there are countries in your own union with equally "shameful" results.

Please don't waste my time further by harping on these minute differences, I won't respond.

	▲	StopDisinfo910 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		> how could the EU let there be such a stark gap between them? It doesn’t. A significant share of the EU budget actually goes toward helping the poorest members in catching up. > You've got the data in front of you showing that outcomes are, by and large, the same across the US and Europe Sorry but the data shows the reverse of that. I’m not wasting your time. You are in denial. The US has high consumption but garbage metrics of approximately everything else. The GINI coefficient is extremely high. The infant mortality rate is poor. Life expectancy is bad for an OCDE country. Homelessness is so high you could believe it’s a developing country. Imprisonment rate, awful, literacy rate, very poor for a developed nation, social mobility, very low, the list goes on and on. The USA is paradoxical in that it’s the only rich democracy which actually doesn’t take care of its population. I’m glade you have the privilege of being rich there and I know you have been indoctrinated from birth into believe the US is exceptional, still, the numbers don’t actually look that good when you look at them.