by Tom Tunny Hamilton
On May 29, my letter to the editor included a graph that I wanted published so that we could see where America actually stands in rankings of major importance to our lives.
The graph did not get posted so I am including in this letter the results of that survey in narrative form.
The survey was conducted by the Commonwealth Fund/World Happiness Report for the Economic Forum of the United Nations with data from 2022–2025.
We Americans believe we are great in all aspects of society. The following results will surprise you!
We Americans believe we are great in Healthcare while we actually rank last among wealthy nations. We believe we are a Happy nation, but the survey shows that we rank number 24 in the world. We believe we have a great Educational system. The results of the survey show that we actually rank 26th in the world. We believe we have great Life Expectancy when in fact, we rank 46th in the world. We believe we have a Free Press while the survey shows that we rank 57th in the world. We believe that our citizens are Socially Mobile. That is “we can move up in the world”, as they say. The survey shows that our social mobility ranks 27th in the world. Finally, in the area of Income Equality, the United States ranks last in the Western world, that is, among all the developed nations.
The survey goes on to show the areas that America is actually Number One at: Imprisoning People, Gun Deaths, School Shootings, Drug Deaths, Medical Bankruptcy, Wealth Inequality among wealthy nations, Maternal Mortality among wealthy nations, Child Poverty among wealthy nations, and in believing that we are #1.
Our status has only gotten worse in the last two years, following the election of our current president. Lord knows how long it will take us to be number one in the areas that matter most!
Cav says
Good job. You scrolled for hours to find a poll you liked and felt the need to share it. I can find a poll that would state the exact opposite. The difference between you and I, is I don’t need to waste the good people of the Bitterroot valley’s time.
I’ve got a very simple solution for the people who chimed in for that poll.
Move. We don’t need miserable, uninformed, people here anyway.
Gomez says
“I can find a poll that would state the exact opposite.”
Link to support your claim plase. Thanks in advance.
Cav says
Do your own homework. Gallup has us at 16th happiest. We’d be even higher if Democrats weren’t such miserable people
Gomez says
Gallup currently has us at 23rd.
“In the World Happiness Report 2026—produced in partnership with Gallup and the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre—the United States ranks 23rd globally.”
In any case, 27th, 23rd or 16th are all a long, long way from number one, which was the point of the letter.