I'm taking a detour from my usual blog content to report on a study I've come across ranking nations' global standings in terms of what's termed geo-political capabilities. This takes into account such dimensions as:
1 government efficiency
2 size of economy
3 demographics
4 cultural prestige
5 diplomatic leverage, and
6 military might.
The study was undertaken by the UK's Henry Jackson Society and can be accessed at: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/geopoliticalcapabilityaudit/ .
Their audit ranks the top 20 globally. The top 10 in order are the United States, UK, China, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, India and Russia. Australia came in eighth? We've only got 25 million inhabitants - less than, or about the same size, as some of the world's largest cities such as Tokyo-Yokohama (38 million), Jakarta (32.3 m), Delhi (27.3 m), Manila (24.6 m). Seoul (24.2 m), Shanghai (24.1 m) and Mumbai (23.3 m). See https://www.archdaily.com/906605/the-20-largest-cities-in-the-world-of-2018 .
So, as a nation, we're in the top class despite a tiny national population and geographical remoteness. The news gets better. If we consult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult the international rankings of nations by median wealth of adults (in $US) are stunning. Have a look at the top 6:
1 Iceland 203,847
2 Australia 191,453
3 Switzerland 183,339
4 Luxembourg 164,284
5 Belgium 163,429
6 Netherlands 114,935
The numbers for other selected countries are Canada (106,342), UK (97,169) and USA (61,667). What's going on? The answer is simple. Wealth in the USA, and to a lesser extent the UK, is so skewed to a small minority of people that the wealth of middle-ranking people is depressed substantially. I might add however that the average per capita adult wealth in Australia is still ahead of the USA.
If we look at disposable mean income per capita for OECD countries, Australia only comes in 4th but these figures are affected by a population's age composition. Our country is in an interesting position compared with most as it has a high dependent population. As an immigrant society, the population is relatively young and Australia's birth rate is higher than many OECD countries. But at the other end of the age spectrum, the nation's average life expectancy is among the world's highest, coming in 4th with 82.8, behind Japan, Switzerland and Singapore. Compare this with Canada (82.2), UK (81.2) and USA (79.3). What's going on here? the USA spends c. 16% of. GDP on health-care whereas Australia's outlay is only c. 8%.
OK, let's leave it there. Comments welcome.
Oh! A small post-script. Our little town is about 1000 m above sea level - or c. 3200 feet. Just have a look at the forecast maximum temperatures for today and the rest of the week in degree C (F in brackets): 36, 37, 37, 32, 31, 32 (97, 99, 99, 90, 88, 90 to the nearest whole numbers). We're sweltering!
AS
1 government efficiency
2 size of economy
3 demographics
4 cultural prestige
5 diplomatic leverage, and
6 military might.
The study was undertaken by the UK's Henry Jackson Society and can be accessed at: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/geopoliticalcapabilityaudit/ .
Their audit ranks the top 20 globally. The top 10 in order are the United States, UK, China, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, India and Russia. Australia came in eighth? We've only got 25 million inhabitants - less than, or about the same size, as some of the world's largest cities such as Tokyo-Yokohama (38 million), Jakarta (32.3 m), Delhi (27.3 m), Manila (24.6 m). Seoul (24.2 m), Shanghai (24.1 m) and Mumbai (23.3 m). See https://www.archdaily.com/906605/the-20-largest-cities-in-the-world-of-2018 .
So, as a nation, we're in the top class despite a tiny national population and geographical remoteness. The news gets better. If we consult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult the international rankings of nations by median wealth of adults (in $US) are stunning. Have a look at the top 6:
1 Iceland 203,847
2 Australia 191,453
3 Switzerland 183,339
4 Luxembourg 164,284
5 Belgium 163,429
6 Netherlands 114,935
The numbers for other selected countries are Canada (106,342), UK (97,169) and USA (61,667). What's going on? The answer is simple. Wealth in the USA, and to a lesser extent the UK, is so skewed to a small minority of people that the wealth of middle-ranking people is depressed substantially. I might add however that the average per capita adult wealth in Australia is still ahead of the USA.
If we look at disposable mean income per capita for OECD countries, Australia only comes in 4th but these figures are affected by a population's age composition. Our country is in an interesting position compared with most as it has a high dependent population. As an immigrant society, the population is relatively young and Australia's birth rate is higher than many OECD countries. But at the other end of the age spectrum, the nation's average life expectancy is among the world's highest, coming in 4th with 82.8, behind Japan, Switzerland and Singapore. Compare this with Canada (82.2), UK (81.2) and USA (79.3). What's going on here? the USA spends c. 16% of. GDP on health-care whereas Australia's outlay is only c. 8%.
OK, let's leave it there. Comments welcome.
Oh! A small post-script. Our little town is about 1000 m above sea level - or c. 3200 feet. Just have a look at the forecast maximum temperatures for today and the rest of the week in degree C (F in brackets): 36, 37, 37, 32, 31, 32 (97, 99, 99, 90, 88, 90 to the nearest whole numbers). We're sweltering!
AS
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