America ranked 2nd-worst country to raise family as income disparity, suicide and homicide impact rating: Study
A new study has found that the US is not the top choice to raise a family. The study by a travel site Asher & Lyric has named America the second-worst country among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations to raise a family. The travel site that conducted the study stated that they have “gathered critical statistics from 30 trusted international sources to create the “Raising a Family Index” that will help you find the best countries for raising children in 2020.”
Asher & Lyric was founded by a Los Angeles-based mother Lyric Benson-Fergusson and her Australian husband, Asher Fergusson, to help “hundreds of thousands of individuals every month stay safe, healthy and happy at home and while traveling!” For their latest study, the couple ranked 35 OECD nations based on six categories, ranging from “Safety, Happiness, Cost, Health and Education to Time”. And not to their surprise, all the Scandinavian countries did really well but they were shocked to see America’s performance in the list, which was just above the 35th rank holder Mexico.
“The first time I looked at the data I was in disbelief. I thought there must be a mistake. I know Americans are struggling, but how could the United States rank as the 34th best country to raise a family in 2020?” said Lyric as she continued: “I said, ‘We have to check. We need to crunch the numbers again’. We did. The data was undeniably correct.”
The mother-of-two also stated that the study has pushed her into a deep “personal reflection”. “Would my anecdotal experience, growing up and raising two children in the US, remotely line up with the data? I went one-by-one into each of the six categories. What I discovered, in many instances, was quite shocking. I had experienced trauma or notable challenges in each category,” she added.
To give a detailed analysis of why the US ranked so low, Lyric listed out some major points in the case of safety, like “there are 6.12 homicides per 100,000 people in America (bested only by Mexico) and from 2009-2018, the US has had 288 school shootings.” While reflecting on America’s happiness index, the study stated: “Income disparities are so pronounced that America’s top 10% now earn on average more than 9 times as much as the bottom 90%, 1 in 5 Americans experience a mental health disorder, such as depression or anxiety, each year, and the suicide rate amongst Americans has increased by 33% between 1999 to 2017, whereas it has decreased in many other comparable countries.”
“I have come to the heartbreaking conclusion that America is a deeply challenged and troubled country. It doesn’t, and maybe never did line up with its own ideology. I think if we, as Americans, are truly honest with ourselves, we might understand why the United States ranks solidly as the second-worst country to raise a family,” Lyric said. “My aspiration is that something will substantially change in my children’s lifetime. There are many things I love about this country, I hope we can all rise to the occasion.”