Nuclear Power Generation: We’re Number 1

The first US commercial nuclear power plant went online in 1957 and most of the subsequent plants were built in the 1970s through the 1990s. At its peak in 2012, there were 104 nuclear reactors in the United States; many of them were built decades earlier and were approaching the end of their useful life. Since 2012, about twenty reactors have been decommissioned and only two new reactors, Vogtle Unit 3 and Unit 4 in Georgia, have gone online. In 2021, there were a total of 93 nuclear power plants, generating nearly 20 percent of America’s electricity.

In 2011, following the nuclear power disaster in Fukushima, Japan, the German government determined that it would close its nuclear facilities. Eight of seventeen units were closed in 2011, and in 2021, six units were still operating. Then by 2023, all such units were shut down, despite protests that the Russian invasion of Ukraine might put Germany’s energy supplies at further risk.

One of the major, unresolved issues for commercial nuclear power plants is the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (1982) had authorized the Department of energy to determine a geologic repository for a permanent disposal; after much political wrangling, the remote and geologically inert site of Yucca Mountain in Nevada was chosen as the permanent disposal site for the entire commercial nuclear industry. This did not sit well with Nevadans, many of whom called the legislation the “Screw Nevada” bill. About $7 billion had been collected from energy companies for nuclear waste depository fund, and most of that had been spent preparing the Yucca Mountain site. But when President Obama took office in 2009, powerful Senate majority leader Harry Reid from Nevada convinced the administration to abandon the Yucca Mountain plan. Congress has not come up with a plan for a permanent storage site since. Meanwhile, some 72,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel, and growing every day, was stored at 80 sites scattered about in thirty-four states.

The United States is not alone in failing to solve the spent fuel problem. “No country, including the United States, has a permanent geologic repository for disposal” of spent nuclear fuel, according to a 2020 Congressional Research Service analysis.

Energy from Solar Power, New Capacity: We’re Number 2

According to the US Energy Information Agency, just over half of the new US energy capacity generated in 2023 will come from solar power. This will be the most solar capacity added in a single year in the US and the first time that more than half of the US capacity additions are coming from solar. Through the Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the EPA launched a $7 billion grant competition for solar energy, targeted for millions of low-income households, a program championed by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.

In 2022, the United States had 204 total Terra-Watt hours (TWh) of solar production; in 2005, that figure was just 0.55 Terra-Watts. (A Terra-Watt hour is enough electricity to fully power 70,000 homes for a year). China is the leader in solar production, with 420 TWh; in 2005 it had just 0.08 TWh. India is the third top generator with 95 TWh, followed by Germany (59), Australia (33.5) and Spain 32.8)

Sources: Wind, Solar, and Batteries Increasingly Account for More New US Power Capacity Additions,” Today in Energy, USEIA, March 6, 2023, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55719#:~:text=As%20of%20January%202023%2C%2073.5,in%202023%20is%20solar%20power. “EPA Launches $7 Billion Competition to Bring Low-Cost Solar Energy to More Hard-Working American Families, The White House, June 28, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy/clean-energy-updates/2023/06/28/epa-launches-7-billion-competition-to-bring-low-cost-solar-energy-to-more-hard-working-american-families/; Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-energy-consumption?tab=chart&country=IND~CHN~AUS~USA~ZAF~ESP~OWID_WRL~DEU~GBR~BRA~FRA~CAN

Energy from Wind Power, New Capacity: We’re Number 2

While many of the wind farms are on land, others are planted in the sea, usually in shallow waters. Several of the barriers to wind farms along coastal waters, particularly in the United States, have been objections to the noise, the detriment to marine life, and the inevitable charges that windfarms just miles off the coast ruin the view. Most recently there have been concerted efforts in Ocean City and Cape May County, New Jersey, to block a ninety-eight-unit windmill farm, which would supply power to half a million homes. But some locals (and outside groups assisting them) are adamantly opposed to windfarms just miles off their coastline. As environmental journalist Kate Selig reported, if the wind farm opponents succeed, “they hope to create a template for derailing some thirty-one offshore wind projects in various stages of development and construction off the East Coast, a key part of President Biden’s plan to reduce greenhouse emissions that are driving global climate change.”

The US falls behind the leading wind power countries in offshore capacity. It currently has 42 MW of offshore capacity, with another 51,400 MW in the pipeline. China is the leader with 31,400 MW of offshore capacity and the United Kingdom is second, with 13,900 MW.

One of President Trump’s first actions during his second term was to halt all offshore wind leasing in federal waters, to pause federal permitting for both offshore and onshore wind projects, and to launch a “comprehensive assessment and review” of wind leasing and permitting.

Sources: Kate Selig, “The Future of East Coast Wind Power Could Ride On This Jersey Beach Town, Washington Post, August 8, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/08/offshore-wind-energy-east-coast/; “Offshore Wind: Market Report,” Clean Power, May 2023, https://cleanpower.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ACP_Offshore_Wind_Market_Report_2023_PUBLIC.pdf. Executive Order. “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects,” White House, January 20, 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/temporary-withdrawal-of-all-areas-on-the-outer-continental-shelf-from-offshore-wind-leasing-and-review-of-the-federal-governments-leasing-and-permitting-practices-for-wind-projects/. “Offshore Wind: Market Report,” Clean Power, May 2023, https://cleanpower.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ACP_Offshore_Wind_Market_Report_2023_PUBLIC.pdf

Total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions: We’re Number 2; Per Capita Emissions: We’re Number 2

Together, India, China, and the United States contribute 42.6 percent of total emissions; the bottom 100 countries account for just 2.9 percent of emissions. Though India is a major GHG contributor, on a per capita basis this largest country in the world falls well below many industrialized countries. This ranking incorporates the twenty-seven nations of the European Union into one entity. The United States ranks second in both the total amount of GHG emissions and second in per capita emissions. Canada, ranking tenth in total emissions, ranks number one in greenhouse emissions per capita.

In 2022, China led the way with 12,795 Metric tons of CO2, ranking 6th per capita. The United States emitted less than half (6,001 Metric tons) of China’s emissions, but ranked 2nd per capita. India was third in total emissions (3,994), but 10th in per capita emissions. While Canada had the highest greenhouse emissions per capita, when looking at countries outside of the OECD, Saudi Arabia had a much higher per capita emissions than Canada.

Sources: “Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Government of Canada, https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions.html; World Resources Institute, https://www.wri.org/insights/interactive-chart-shows-changes-worlds-top-10-emitters.

Safest Countries in the World: We’re Number 129

The Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think tank headquartered in Sydney, Australia, produces an annual Global Peace Index (GPI), ranking the safest and most peaceful countries in the world. For 2023, the GPI measured 163 countries using twenty-three different indicators, such as internal and external violent conflicts, level of distrust, political instability, potential for terrorist acts, number of homicides, and military expenditures as percentage of GDP. The United States ranked 129th and has fallen in ranking every year since 2016. The Trump years, the Big Lie, the January 6th insurrection--certainly all these added to the low ranking; so too, did the mass murders, the gun violence, and the internal violence.

Ranking as the safest countries were Iceland, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic.

In the United States, there seemed to be no end of gun violence. By August 2023, there had been 421 mass murders recorded in the United States, a record pace, along with at least 25,198 persons (118 each day) killed in non-mass murder situation. More than half of those 25,198 used a gun to commit suicide. Of those who died, 879 were teenagers and 170 were children. These figures also include 488 persons killed in police officer-involved shootings, and thirty-four officers killed in the line of duty.

Sources: The Institute for Economics and Peace describes itself as "an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to shifting the world's focus to peace as a positive, achievable and tangible measure of human wellbeing and progress." https://www.economicsandpeace.org; Safest Countries in the World, 2023, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/safest-countries-in-the-world. Kiara Alfonseca, “More than 25,000 People Killed in Gun Violence So Far in 2023,” ABC News, August 3, 2023, https://abcnews.go.com/US/116-people-died-gun-violence-day-us-year/story?id=97382759, citing data from the Gun Violence Archive. The Gun Violence Archive defines “mass shooting” as “four or more victims shot or killed.”

Gun Violence: We’re Number 1

When looking at high-income countries with populations of 10 million or more, the United States ranks number 1 in firearm homicides. Firearm homicide rate is 13 times greater in the United States than in France; 22 times greater than in all the countries of the European Union, and 23 times greater than in Australia, according to data collected by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In an earlier 2018 Global Burden of Disease study, the United States ranked eighth out of 64 high-income countries and territories for homicides by firearms. Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, both US territories, ranked first and third on the list of 64 countries and territories.

In the United States, most homicides are caused by guns. In 2022, some 85 percent of all homicides in America were caused by firearms; but in Canada, it was only 40 percent; in Australia, just 11 percent; and England and Wales, only 4 percent.

Sources: Leach-Kemon and Sirull, “On Gun Violence, the US is an Outlier.” “Global Mortality from Firearms, 1990-2016,” JAMA, 2018, 320 (8): 792-814, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2698492;“How Many US Mass Shooting Have There Been in the 2023? BBC News, August 26, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081; Statistics Canada and CDC 2021; ONS (England and Wales), April 2021-March 2022; Australian Institute of Criminology, July 2021-June 2022.

Constitutional Right to Bear Arms without Restrictions: We’re The Only Ones

The United States is one of just three countries in the world that have the right to bear arms as a constitutional protection. The other two are Mexico and Guatemala. Further, the United States is the only country with a right to keep and bear arms with no constitutional restrictions. At one time, six other countries (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Liberia) had a constitutional right to bear arms, but they have all repealed those guarantees.

Source: Zachary Elkins, “Rewrite the Second Amendment,” New York Times, April 4, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/opinion/rewrite-the-second-amendment.html?ref=opinion

Violent Cities: St. Louis is Number 7 and Baltimore is Number 16

Of the twenty most dangerous cities in the world in 2023, as measured by murder rate, the top six are all in Mexico. Celaya, Mexico, tops the list, with a murder rate of 109.39 per 100,000 residents. The seventh most dangerous city is St. Louis, Missouri, which has a murder rate of 87.43. Baltimore ranks sixteenth, with a murder rate of 56.45. All the other most dangerous cities are in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Jamaica, or South Africa. These rankings do not include situations of war or conflict. For the OECD member countries, the average murder rate is 4.50 per 100,000. No European or Asian city ranks in the top fifty of the world’s deadliest cities.

Source: “Ranking of the Most Dangerous Cities in the World in 2023, by Murder Rate per 100,000 Inhabitants,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/243797/ranking-of-the-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-by-murder-rate-per-capita/

Violence Against Women: We’re Number 2

When looking at violence against women, we find that the United States is one of the worst countries in the twenty-seven OECD countries that have reported such information. These data look at the percentage of women who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in 2020. Only women in Turkey experienced a higher percentage of violence than women in the United States.

Source: “Violence Against Women,” OECD, https://www.oecd.org/gender/vaw.htm

Death Penalty: 144 Countries Have Abolished or Abandoned It; We’re Among 55 Who Still Have It

Amnesty International reports that altogether, 108 countries had completely abolished the death penalty by the end of 2021; a total of 144 countries have abolished it in practice (that is, no executions in the past ten years). Fifty-five countries, including the United States, retain the death penalty. At the end of 2021, there are, however, some 28,670 persons who have been sentenced to death. Iraq has the highest number, around 8,000; the United States has 2,382 persons on death row.

Source: “Death Penalty 2021: Facts and Figure,” Amnesty International, May 24, 2022, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/05/death-penalty-2021-facts-and-figures/.

Incarceration Rate: We’re Number 1

The Prison Policy Initiative looked at the US incarceration rates and compared them to the founding NATO countries. Again, the United States can claim Number One status. The incarceration rate in the United States is 664 prisoners per 100,000 population. Next highest among NATO countries is the United Kingdom with 129 per 100,000, followed by Portugal (111 prisoners) and Canada (104).

Source: www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2021.html

Life Expectancy: We’re Number 27

Life expectancy in the United States has seen a “historic decline” since 2015, the biggest decrease in a century, partly due to the opioid crisis and party due to the COVID pandemic. In 2019, before the pandemic, life expectancy in the United States was 78.85 years; in 2020, in decreased to 76.98 years, and in 2021 decreased again to 76.44 years. Altogether, there was a net loss of life expectancy of 2.41 years. Hit the hardest during the pandemic were Hispanic, Black, Native American, and Asian populations. But in 2021, the largest decreases occurred in non-Hispanic white population.

Jessica Y. Ho found that “life expectancy in the United States lags well behind that of other high-income countries,” dropping from near the middle in the 1980s to near the bottom in the mid-2000s. Her study found that American men lived 5.18 years lower and American women lived 5.82 years lower than their peers in the world’s high-income countries. Young Americans, ages 25-29, have experienced death rates three times their counterparts.

In their study of early deaths in America, titled “Missing Americans,” Jacob Bor and his colleagues note that 1 million US deaths in 2020 and another 1.1 million US deaths in 2021 “would have been averted if the United States had the mortality rates of other wealthy nations.” They note that the number of excess US deaths relative to its peers is “unprecedented in modern times.”

In 2006, a report called the Eight Americas study examined the health inequities in the United States by separating out and analyzing eight distinct groups based on race, urbanicity, geography, income per capita, and homicide rates. In a November 2024 study, the Eight Americas groups were expanded to ten. The authors of the new study found the disparities “truly alarming,” with over a twenty-year gap in life expectancy between the highest group (Asian Americans, who lived an average of 84 years) and the lowest (American Indian and Alaska Native persons, who lived an average of 63.6 years). One of the lead authors, Christopher J.L. Murray, stated that "These disparities reflect the unequal and unjust distribution of resources and opportunities that have profound consequences on well-being and longevity, especially in marginalized populations."

What countries do better in life expectancy? First is Japan, with a life expectancy of 84.45 years; in second place is Switzerland (83.85); then South Korea (83.53), Australia (83.30), and Spain (83.18). The United States comes in 27th with an average life expectancy of 76.33.

Sources: Claire Klobucista, “US Life Expectancy Is in Decline. Why Aren’t Other Countries Suffering the Same Problem?” Council on Foreign Relations (September 8, 2022), https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/us-life-expectancy-decline-why-arent-other-countries-suffering-same-problem#:~:text=U.S.%20life%20expectancy%20was%20slightly,States%20have%20higher%20life%20expectancie. Ryan K. Masters, Laudan Y. Aron, and Steven H. Woolf, “Changes in Life Expectancy Between 2019 and 2021 in the United States and 21 Peer Countries,” MedRxiv, June 1, 2021, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.05.22273393v4. Jessica Y. Ho, “Causes of America’s Lagging Life Expectancy: An International Comparative Perspective,” Journals of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2022 77 (S2), https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/77/Supplement_2/S117/6533432. Jacob Bor, Andrew Stokes, Julia Raifman, Atheendar Venkataramani, Mary T. Bassett, David Himmelstein, and Steffie Woolhandler, “Missing Americans: Early Death in the United States—1933-2021,” PNAS Nexus 2 (6) (June 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad173. Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Mathew M. Bauman, Zuochen Li, Yikaterina O. Kelly, Chris Schmidt, Chloe Searchinger, et al., “Ten Americas: A Systematic Analysis of Life Expectancy Disparities in the USA,” The Lancet, November 21, 2024, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01495-8/fulltext. Murray quoted in Sara Moniuszko, “Life Expectancy Gap in US Widens to 20 Years Due to ‘Truly Alarming’ Health Disparities, Researchers Say,” CBS News, November 21, 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-expectancy-gap-20-years/. “Life Expectancy at Birth, Total Years,” World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN).

Best Healthcare Systems: We’re Number 30

In 2021, CEOWorld magazine published The Healthcare Index which looked at the overall quality of healthcare, ranking countries according to their health infrastructure, healthcare professionals, costs, availability, and government readiness (such as imposing penalties on risks such as tobacco use and obesity). Altogether, eighty-nine countries were ranked. The Index measured health infrastructure, professionals, cost, medicine availability, and government readiness to support healthcare.

The study determined that South Korea had the highest level of quality healthcare, scoring 78.72 (out of 100) in its Index. Second was Taiwan (77.70), Denmark (74.11), Austria (71.32), Japan (70.73), Australia (67.99), and France (65.38).

The United States came in 30th, with an overall quality healthcare score of 45.62.

Source: Sophie Ireland, “Revealed: Countries with the Best Healthcare Systems,” CEO World, April 27, 2021, https://ceoworld.biz/2021/04/27/revealed-countries-with-the-best-health-care-systems-2021/

The United States can rightly boast of having some of the finest hospitals, doctors, and specialty care facilities in the world; but at the same time, many rural hospitals in America have been forced to close, leading to a crisis in rural healthcare access. In 2021, Newsweek magazine and Statista compiled a list of the best specialized hospitals in the world. American hospitals garnered high marks in each of the specializations of cardiology, oncology, endocrinology, neurology, gastroenterology, and orthopedics. In the field of cardiology, for example, eight of the top ten hospitals were in the United States; American hospitals also ranked high in the other specialized fields of medicine.

At the other end of the spectrum are rural hospitals, many of which are in critical financial straits; and without federal or state assistance many will have closed their doors. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a national healthcare policy organization, noted that more than 100 rural hospitals had closed over the past decade, 200 more are at immediate risk of closure, and that more than 600 additional rural hospitals (30 percent of all rural hospitals) are in precarious financial conditions. This is the dilemma for millions of Americans who live in rural areas: even if they have insurance to pay for medical care, their communities cannot provide the healthcare they need. These hospitals lose money delivering services to patients, and, especially in states withdrawing patients from Medicaid eligibility, the financial difficulties become even more challenging.

Another major concern, no matter where in the country, is the growing shortage of physicians. In October 2023, Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, president of the American Medical Association, warned that “there is an insidious crisis going on in medicine today that is having a profound impact on our ability to care for patients, and yet isn’t receiving the attention it deserves. This crisis is physician burnout.” Physicians everywhere, in every part of the country and every medical specialty, Ehrenfeld noted, “continue to carry tremendous burdens that have us frustrated, burned out, abandoning hope. . . and in increasingly worrying numbers, turning our backs on the profession we’ve dedicated our lives to.” The American Association of Medical Colleges has projected a national physician shortfall over the next decade of at least 37,000, perhaps even 100,000. Covid burnout, the administrative and bureaucratic health care system drowning physicians in paperwork, the attack on science undermining the trust in physicians, the government intrusion into health care decision and aggressive efforts to criminalize health care, the widening healthcare disparities suffered by marginalize communities, the increases in gun violence and drug overdoses, and the shrinking Medicare reimbursement that has pushed many small, independent medical practices to the brink of financial collapse—all these have contributed to the loss of doctors and the consequent repercussions for millions of patients.

Ehrenfeld noted that some 83 million Americans do not have sufficient access to primary care physicians; 90 percent of counties in the US do not have access to pediatric ophthalmologists, 80 percent of counties do not have infectious disease specialists, and “more than 30 percent of Black Americans live in cardiac deserts.”

Sources: “World’s Best Specialized Hospitals,” Newsweek, n.d., https://www.newsweek.com/worlds-best-specialized-hospitals-2021. “The Crisis in Rural Healthcare,” Saving Rural Hospitals, n.d., http://ruralhospitals.chqpr.org;Press Release, “AMA President Sounds Alarm on National Physician Shortage,” American Medical Association, October 25, 2023, https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-president-sounds-alarm-national-physician-shortage.

Higher Education: We’re Number 1, but . . .

Higher education presents a different and mixed story. The elite American universities, both private and public, are the envy of the world. In a 2014 survey conducted by US News, American institutions of higher education dominated, with sixteen of the top twenty universities worldwide found in the United States; 134 American institutions were among the 500 top universities worldwide.

Altogether, there are nearly 4,000 degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States. The top 100 private schools enroll only about 500,000 students; the remaining 10.5 million students attend the other state-supported and private institutions. Included among them are hundreds of weaker institutions: those relying heavily on tuition, having little endowment, and increasingly dependent on a diminishing supply of both US and international students.

Many such institutions are hanging on by a thread, admitting 80, 90 or even 100 percent of the students who apply. In a 2022 study, the American Enterprise Institute found that in 355 colleges accepted between 80-90 percent of its applicants; 303 colleges accepted 90-99 percent; and 226 colleges accepted 100 percent of its applicants. These are the bottom-tier schools that rarely crack the top 200 in the US News rankings. The Pew Research Center found that 57.4 percent of colleges admitted at least 70 percent of its applicants in 2023; just 0.4 percent of schools (the most elite schools) accepted less than 10 percent of its applicants. The fate of these schools is compounded by the harsh reality of a declining American student population. In the 2011 academic year, 24.8 million undergraduates were enrolled in American colleges and universities; in 2023, enrollment had dropped to 20.3 million. Between 2026 and 2031, the number of high school graduates is expected to drop by 9 percent, translating into a loss of 280,000 American students enrolled in four-year colleges. In addition there have been cuts in state funding, the drying up of private support, and increased competition from other schools.

Many more schools are predicted to fold or merge. A headline in the April 26, 2024, Washington Post declared that “Colleges Are Now Closing at a Pace of One a Week.” In 2023, the rate of college closings was a little more than two a week, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. The educational consulting firm EAB predicted that by 2030 some “449 colleges are expected to see a 25 percent decline in enrollment and 182 colleges are expected to see a 50 percent decline.” Schools received federal emergency relief funds during the pandemic years, but those funds—a lifeline for many institutions--have mostly dried up. In addition, student enrollment has not rebounded in all sectors, and many institutions face significant enrollment pressures.

Compounding these demographic and financial difficulties was a growing sense that college simply wasn’t worth the time and effort. In a recent Wall Street Journal poll, conducted with the independent research institute NORC of the University of Chicago, some 56 percent of Americans didn’t think college was “worth the cost”; that figure was up by 16 percent since the same question was asked ten years ago.

Seth Bodnar, president of the University of Montana, noted the skepticism among many on whether a college education was worth the time and money, and he was particularly worried about those who encourage young people to forgo high education. “Our competitors are certainly not advising their youth, ‘Don’t get an education.’ They’re playing a long game, and they’re playing to win.”

Indeed, the United States is the outlier among OECD countries when it comes to higher education goals and aspirations. On average, notes journalist Paul Tough, OECD countries “have increased their college-attainment rate among young adults by more than 20 percentage points since 2000, and eleven of those countries now have better-educated labor forces than we do.” It is not just Japan, South Korea and Britain, but also smaller countries like the Netherlands, Ireland, and Switzerland.

In June 2023, the US Supreme Court ruled that Harvard College and the University of North Carolina had violated the equal protection clause of the US Constitution through their affirmative action admissions programs. For the six conservatives in the majority, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the student “must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual — not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

In a blistering dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote, “The devastating impact of this decision cannot be overstated. The majority’s vision of race neutrality will entrench racial segregation in higher education because racial inequality will persist so long as it is ignored.”

The immediate partisan and ideological reactions were predictable. President Biden declared “I strongly—strongly disagree with the Court’s decision. . . I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse. Our nation is strong because . . . we are tapping into the full range of talent in this nation.” On the campaign trail, Donald Trump calling it “a great day for America.”

Now with Donald Trump in the White House, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs are also under attack at colleges and universities, with critics arguing that such programs lead to reverse discrimination, violate free speech, and are simply attempts promote affirmative action by another name. The University of Michigan, a leading voice in promoting DEI programs, has spent a quarter billion dollars over the past decade on such efforts, only to find students, faculty, administrators, and alumni, of all political stripes frustrated with the implementation, educational and societal ramifications, even the fundamental premises of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Sources: “Best Global Universities Rankings,” US News, October 2014, http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings; George F. Will, “Colleges Hide the Truth About Tuition,” Washington Post, August 30, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/30/high-college-tuition-marketing-tool/; Preston Cooper, “After Decades of Competitive Admissions, Getting into College Has Finally Become Easier,” AEIdeas, September 11, 2024, https://www.aei.org/education/after-decades-of-competitive-admissions-getting-into-college-has-finally-become-easier/; Jon Marcus, “It’s Becoming Easier to Get Into Many Colleges,” Washington Post, November 18, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/11/18/college-acceptance-rates-easier-to-get-in/; Drew Desilver, “A Majority of US Colleges Admit Most Students Who Apply,” Pew Research Center, April 9, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/04/09/a-majority-of-u-s-colleges-admit-most-students-who-apply/; “Undergraduate Enrollment in US Universities, Statista, n.d., https://www.statista.com/statistics/235406/undergraduate-enrollment-in-us-universities/; Jeffrey J. Selingo, “Despite Strong Economy, Worrying Signs for Higher Education,” Washington Post, August 3, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/08/03/despite-strong-economy-worrying-financial-signs-for-higher-education/?noredirect=on; Jon Marcus, “Colleges Are Now Closing at a Pace of One a Week. What Happens to the Students?” Washington Post, April 26, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/04/26/college-closures-student-impact/; EAB report cited in Olivia Sanchez, “Experts Predicted Dozens of Colleges Would Close in 2023—and They Were Right,” Hechinger Report, January 12, 2024, https://hechingerreport.org/experts-predicted-dozens-of-colleges-would-close-in-2023-and-they-were-right/; Josh Moody, “A Harbinger for 2023? Presentation College to Close,” Inside Higher Ed, January 18, 2023, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/01/19/more-colleges-will-likely-face-closure-2023-experts-say; Douglas Belkin, “Americans Are Losing Faith in College Education, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds,” Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-losing-faith-in-college-education-wsj-norc-poll-finds-3a836ce1. Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf; “Remarks by President Biden on the Supreme Court’s Decision on Affirmative Action,” The White House, June 29, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/06/29/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-supreme-courts-decision-on-affirmative-action/; Neil Vigdor and Jonathan Weisman, “The GOP Presidential Field Is Hailing the Dismantling of Affirmative Action,” New York Times, June 29, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/us/politics/affirmative-action-republican-reactions.html; Nicholas Confessore, “The University of Michigan Doubled Down on DEI. What Went Wrong?” New York Times, October 16, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/magazine/dei-university-michigan.html.

International Student Scores (TIMSS): We’re Number 27, 22, and 15

In early December 2024, the results of the 2023 TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) international assessments in mathematics and science were published. Every four years, fourth and eighth grade students in sixty-four countries are tested and evaluated. Once again, the scores of American students were not impressive. In mathematics, American fourth graders ranked 27th (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan topped the list); eighth graders did slightly better, ranking 22nd (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan scored highest in this list). In science, American fourth graders and eighth graders ranked 15th (Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and England topped the list of fourth graders; Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan were at the top of the eighth grader achievements).

Source: “TIMSS International Results in Mathematics and Science,” IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), in partnership with the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College, and the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education, https://timss2023.org/results/ (accessed December 4, 2024). Fifty-eight countries participated in the mathematics and science achievement assessments for fourth graders; forty-four countries participated in the mathematics and science achievement assessments for eighth graders.

International Student Scores (PISA): We’re Number 22

When it comes to competing with students from around the world, American fourth and eighth graders are simply not measuring up. Every three years, the OECD conducts the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a global educational examination involving around 600,000 15-year-old students from around the world. Students take a two-hour test in mathematics, science, and reading. Over sixty-five countries, representing 90 percent of the world’s economies, participate in the PISA program. The 2022 results are the latest; PISA was postponed during the pandemic years. The World Population Review noted that “Since a high ranking on PISA corresponds to economic success, researchers have concluded that PISA is one of the indicators of whether school systems are preparing students for the 21st-century global knowledge economy.”

Students in the United States ranked 22nd overall in the 2022 PISA testing. American students ranked 11th in science but ranked 28th in mathematics. The “bleak” math scores were offset by improved scores in reading and science. About 66 percent of US students performed at least at the basic level of math, while 80 percent scored at the basic levels in science and reading. China scored the highest. The World Population Review noted, however, that these scores from China should be taken with a “pinch of salt.” The Chinese scores were based on students living in Beijing, Shanghai, and two adjacent provinces, rather than testing throughout the country. Yet, the level of income in these testing regions was well below the OECD average.

In addition, students in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, and the Czech Republic all scored higher than students in the United States. Students in France, Portugal, and Austria scored slightly below the American students.

Sources: “PISA Scores by Country, 2022”, OECD, https://www.oecd.org/publication/pisa-2022-results/; “PISA Scores by Country, 2018,” World Population Review, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/pisa-scores-by-country Data from OECD 2019 PISA report; Sarah Mervosh, “Math Scores Dropped Globally, but the US Still Trails Other Countries,” New York Times, December 5, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/math-scores-pandemic-pisa.html.

Homelessness: We’re Number 1 in Total Number of Homeless; We’re Number 7 per Capita

The most recent estimate of American total population in 339 million. While the United States has the largest homeless population among OECD countries (580,000), it ranks 7th in per capita (1,707 per 100,000 persons). The United Kingdom, with a total population of 67.7 million has the second largest number of homeless person (365,000) in the OECD, but ranks 1st in homeless persons per capita (5,399 per 100,000).

Source: World Population Review data, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/homelessness-by-country

Social Spending: We’re Number 16 (Public Social Spending) and 2 (Total Net Spending)

How does the United States compare with other OECD countries in terms of social spending? There are two terms involved here: “Public Social Spending” means social spending with financial flows controlled by general government (different levels of government and social security funds), such as social insurance and social assistance payments. “Total Net Social Spending” takes into account public and private social expenditures, and also include the effect of direct taxes (income tax and social security contributions), indirect taxation of consumption on cash benefits as well as tax breaks for social purposes.

In comparison with other OECD countries, the United States is tucked into the middle, ranking 16th in public social spending as a percentage of GDP. But when looking at total net social spending, which includes private social expenditures and indirect taxes and tax breaks, the US ranks as 2nd among OECD countries. The average public social spending for OECD countries is 21.1 percent of GDP, while the average total net social spending is 20.9 percent of GDP.

Source: A complete list of data sets on US public social spending is available at www.oecd.org/social/expenditure.htm.

Opioid Addiction: We’re Number 1

Opioid use became widespread and rampant in America. The United States consumes 80 percent of the world’s supply of OxyContin and Hydrocodone. Much of it ended up in the most economically depressed areas of America.

When compared to the countries of the European Union, the deaths attributed to drug overdoses in the United States is astounding. In 2020, for the entire European Union, with a population of 440 million, there were 5,800 total overdose deaths. By contrast, in America, with a population of a little over 330 million, there were 68,000 deaths. That number jumped to 80,000 in 2021, and 107,000 deaths in 2022 in America.

Source: David Wallace-Wells, “Why Is America Such a Deadly Place?” New York Times, August 9, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/opinion/mortality-rate-pandemic.html

Food Sustainability: We’re Number 30

In an analysis conducted by the Economist, the United States ranked 30th in food sustainability and food wasted. The countries with the best performance were Sweden, Japan, Canada, Finland, and Austria. In the individual categories of sustainability, the United States ranked this way: in Food Loss (score 77), it was 8th out of 78 countries; in Sustainable Agriculture (score 55), it was 75th out of 78; in Nutritional Challenges (score 64), it was States was 47th out of 78.

Source: Economist Impact, n.d., https://impact.economist.com/projects/foodsustainability/interactive-world-map/