According to the World Resources Institute, there are nineteen wetlands of international importance in the United States, which makes the United States tied for nineteenth with India and Pakistan in that category. The United Kingdom ranks first with one hundred fifty-seven internationally important wetlands.
According the the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the United States ranks eleventh in the “Average Cantril Ladder,” a measure of happiness. Denmark ranks first. The top ten countries are:
According to the 2005 Durex Global Sex Survey, the average age at which Americans have their first sex education is 12.5 years, which makes the United States tied for twelfth with Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom out of forty-one countries ranked in that category. Germany ranks first, with the average age of first sex education at 11.3 years.
According to Standard & Poor’s, the U.S. has a credit rating of AA+, which makes the U.S. rank seventeenth in the world in that category. Sixteen economies rank higher, at AAA. They are: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.
According to the most recent Gallup Wellbeing Survey, 59% of Americans report that they are “thriving” in their lives, an increase of two percentage points from last year’s survey. That is enough to make the United States rank twelfth out of one hundred twenty-four countries. Denmark ranks first, at 72%. Denmark ranked first last year as well, but the percentage of respondents who said they are thriving there declined by ten percentage points from last year.
According to the OECD in 2007, the United States had a teenage suicide rate of 7.7 out of every 100,000 people, which makes the United States rank fourteenth in that category. New Zealand ranks first, with a suicide rate of 19.2 out of every 100,000 people.
Prepared by Kiernan Playford
Accordint to UN Data, the U.S. has approximately 73 internet users per 100 individuals. The U.S. ties for 9th in this category alongside Canada and Switzerland, who also have 73 users. Norway ranks first with 85 users and the Netherlands second with 84 users.
<entry prepared by Erika Cary>
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, in 2009 the United States produced 43,570 tonnes of green beans, or 1% of the world’s total green bean production. This was enough to make the United States rank fifteenth in that category. China ranks first, producing 2,616,748 tonnes, or 48% of the world total.
Prepared by Michael J. Rooney
According to British Petroleum, between 2008 and 2009 natural gas production increased in the United States by 3.5%, which makes the United States tied for seventeenth with Indonesia in that category. India ranks first, with an increase in natural gas production of 28.9%.
According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, the United States has a freedom from corruption score of 75, which makes the United States rank nineteenth out of one hundred seventy-nine ranked countries. New Zealand ranks first, with a score of 94.
