In all rankings? No, of course not. However, I do put a lot of faith into accurate polling that considers many factors and most accurately looks at the issued based on testing or per capita numbers. For instance, with your example I would not put much faith into because it demonstrates a couple of biases and doesn’t consider the other factors and forms of healthcare.
Transparency International commissioned the
University of Passau's
Johann Graf Lambsdorff to produce the CPI.
The 2012 CPI takes into account 16 different surveys and assessments from 12 different institutions. The 13 surveys/assessments are either business people opinion surveys or performance assessments from a group of analysts. Early CPIs used public opinion surveys. The institutions are:
·
African Development Bank (based in Ivory Coast)
·
Bertelsmann Foundation (based in Germany)
·
Economist Intelligence Unit (based in UK)
·
Freedom House (based in US)
·
Global Insight (based in US)
·
International Institute for Management Development (based in Switzerland)
· Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (based in Hong Kong)
· The PRS Group, Inc., (based in US)
·
World Economic Forum
·
World Bank
·
World Justice Project(based in US)
Countries need to be evaluated by at least three sources to appear in the CPI. The CPI measures perception of corruption due to the difficulty of measuring absolute levels of corruption.
Validity
A study published in 2002 found a "very strong significant correlation" between the Corruption Perceptions Index and two other proxies for corruption: black market activity and overabundance of regulation.
All three metrics also had a highly significant correlation with real gross domestic product per capita (RGDP/Cap); the Corruption Perceptions Index correlation with RGDP/Cap was the strongest, explaining over three fourths of the variance. (Note that a lower index on this scale reflects greater corruption, so that countries with higher RGDPs generally had less corruption.)
It sure does seem like it would be an accurate measure. Over a 3rd of the institutions used to measure were in the US. Doesn’t seem to indicate to much a of a bias. Of all the countries, I would agree it’s not too bad, especially considering where we rank in other areas. However, it doesn’t indicate we are the best or even top 10.
Poverty level is measured per capita of the overall population and based of each countries level of poverty. Of course, US poverty level is higher than a lot of others, but that is because the US is a developed nation, so the average wage and cost of living is higher than most. Why is that a horrible measure? Also, this ranking is based off the Purchasing Power Parity, off GDP (PPP), instead of just the nominal GDP rate which if far less accurate. GDP comparisons using PPP are arguably more useful than those using nominal GDP when assessing a nation's domestic market because PPP takes into account the relative cost of local goods, services and inflation rates of the country, rather than using international market exchange rates which may distort the real differences in per capita income. No one is questioning that poorer people in poorer nations don’t have it even worse, but that doesn’t change that fact that per capita we have an incredibly high poverty rate among developed countries. That’s embarrassing and definitely not indicative of the best country in the world.
World’s largest economy? Really? You may want to look that up. China has the world’s largest economy, unless of course you are strictly looking at GDP, which would demonstrate a bias that you were speaking of earlier. Again, GDP comparisons using PPP are arguably more useful than those using nominal GDP when assessing a nation's domestic market because PPP takes into account the relative cost of local goods, services and inflation rates of the country, rather than using international market exchange rates which may distort the real differences in per capita income. among countries. PPP is often used to gauge global poverty thresholds and is used by the United Nations in constructing the human development index. These surveys such as the International Comparison Program include both tradable and non-tradable goods in an attempt to estimate a representative basket of all goods. However, I must ask you, why would economy dictate energy usage for you. Wouldn’t energy usage be more accurately measure by population. China, who also has a larger economy has 4 times as many people in the use to use energy. As does India. How in the world do you think its rationale that 4.28% of the global populations utilizes over 25% of its energy strictly based on economy?
Again, there are 180+ democracies in the world and most all have the same or similar freedoms to you. Why is crime and gun violence so much greater here than in those counties, regardless of measurement utilized?
I know you won’t address them, because you can’t. That would involve you having to see the truth.
I know you and others don’t care because it goes against what you have been taught and choose to believe. However, no facts prove we are the greatest country on earth. Most every country thinks they are the greatest. Even the North Koreans believe they are the greatest. It’s what has been ingrained in you all since you were children and it’s easier to believe that than to accept the facts that it’s not. When presented with facts, you simply shun them by saying they are inaccurate without any evidence as to why, or just simply say you don’t care or believe them. I, nor anyone else can make you accept something you refuse to accept, but facts remain, we are far from the greatest country in the world.
Just curious, what do you think makes the US the greatest country in the world?
