Thank you so much to everyone who responded to last week's newsletter! I got such great feedback, I decided to do a follow-up piece. Let's keep the conversations going. Bluesky. LinkedIn. Email. I always reply.
💙 Amanda
Last week I wrote: "In many of the ways we measure 'the good life' — health, work-life balance, safety, faith in government — the US is falling short. And not just a little bit. Over and over again, data show the US performing substantially worse than similar countries." And I gave you a pile of charts to back that up.
"Damn!" wrote Daan Louter, who works at data visualization platform Flourish.
I received praise for highlighting the problem, criticism that I ignored positive aspects of the US, notification of a high-level correction, and plenty of suggestions for additional outliers.
Generic drug costs
"Why didn't you compare the US's relatively low generic drug costs to those of other OECD countries? Generics make up nearly 90 percent of American drug consumption, after all." — Luther Abel, associate editor for National Review.
The US has the highest cost of insulin in the world. And Americans spend the most, per person, on pharmaceuticals as a whole. But Luther is right, too. They have nearly the lowest generic drug prices (only Turkey is cheaper). On average, for every dollar other countries pay for unbranded drugs, US consumers pay 67 cents.
Economic growth
"I hear you, but — the US is also the only economy to have this level of sustained growth in almost two decades+, whereas most other economies have stagnated or have considerably lesser growth." — CorerMaximus on Reddit.
For some reason, it always feels like the US economy is going gangbusters. But a quick look at data from the World Bank reveals the truth: When compared to similarly wealthy countries, the US has seen about average economic performance over the last quarter century.
Of the OECD countries, the US ranks 21st in terms of multi-decade economic growth
Average GDP per capita growth, each year from 2000 to 2024.
Military spending
"[What about] military spending. We don't know exactly where we are in the imperial Pax Americana story ... but it's been nice not having any significant global wars for a few generations." — RJ Andrews, data viz consultant at Info We Trust
The findings on this surprised me, because it's another one that just feels true. But by two metrics — military spending per capita and as a percentage of GDP — the US isn't highest.
Israel tops the world in military spending per person
2024 per capita military spending in OECD countries.
As for military spending as a fraction of GDP, Ukraine outranks every other country by a mile: 34%. The US lags far behind at 3%.
National self-identity
"What I find most interesting is that the US is like this and so proud of itself. Delusional. Might be interesting to look at the psychometric data about different countries' perceptions of themselves." — Osbert Lancaster, Director at Realise Earth.
In 2024, Pew Research compared how people around the world conceptualize national identity. While the study didn't assess the strength of Americans' patriotic feelings, it did explore the criteria people use to determine who belongs. As far as having strict boundaries around what defines their national identity, Americans don't stand out.
👀 Watch this space 👀 Turns out there's a pile of interesting data about national values and cultural identity. I found it so compelling, in fact, that I've decided to do an entire post on it in the near future. Thanks for the idea, Osbert!
Ethnic Diversity
"There is a sense of rather large ethnic diversity [in the US] compared to most other places, maybe all? Especially when you consider the population sizes we're talking about." — RJ Andrews.
Another great idea from RJ Andrews who, when I asked for potential American outliers, sent more than ten ideas my way! In reality, though, US ethnic diversity is middle of the pack.
The US is more ethnically diverse than some; not as diverse as others
Countries are more ethnically diverse as they get closer to 1. A value near 0 indicates low diversity.
Train tracks!
"I think there is a stat that the USA has the most train track, by some measure." — RJ Andrews.
This one is true. The US has the longest railroad of any country, by a long shot.
And finally... a very impressive fact check
A few of you got in touch about this chart from last week's piece. It shows the gap in life expectancy at birth between regions:
In order for the US number to be that high, there would need to be an absurdly low life expectancy in one region of the country. Unlikely. But, that's what the OECD data showed — and for year after year after year.
Peter Ellis wasn't convinced. And he knows his stuff; he's a director of statistics at The Pacific Community. He also writes a blog called Free Range Statistics.
In under an hour, he had found the error and informed the OECD. A day later, they responded, saying the data was indeed incorrect and it was removed.
Well done, Peter!
NOW WHAT?
Feeling US fatigue? I hear you! Not-Ship's next dispatch will be about something entirely different.
Can't get enough? Dig into the loads of data behind this work by becoming a supporting member of Not-Ship. You'll get access to the spreadsheets behind every piece.
One last thing: Multiple readers, including Anne-Sophie Pereira De Sá and Attila Bátorfy, shared this clip from The Newsroom. I'd never seen it. But now that I have — that's good TV!
FROM ELSEWHERE
Here's what I found interesting, important or delightful this week:
Editorial standards fall. Carbon Brief has analyzed UK newspaper editorials since 2011 and this is the first year opposition to climate action has exceeded support. Yeesh.
System rot comes for all. One of my favourite podcasts, Hotel Bar Sessions, discussed Cory Doctorow's theory of enshittification, and expanded the idea to academia and democracy.
Nothing new at this mall. Sweden's ReTuna shopping mall only sells repurposed or second-hand items. It's been around for a decade, but The Internet seems to have just discovered it.
Member discussion