The Top 15 Best Countries To Raise A Family Do Not Include The Wealthiest

Parents consider where to raise children based on community, schools, and green space. A ranking system scores countries using several datasets across air quality, education expenditure, happiness, infant mortality, social protection systems, urban green space, and years of schooling. High national wealth does not guarantee a high ranking. The United States ranks #20 for raising a family despite having a much larger GDP than Finland, which ranks higher. The United States also ranks #18 overall, reflecting strengths such as military and culture, alongside weaker performance in caring for citizens, protecting education, and building thriving communities across the country.

"Because the best place to raise a family isn't just one where lots of families are or where the schools are good or where there's a lot of green space (although all of those are great things). It's a mixture of everything, and U.S. News & World Report was able to compile several datasets to give a score to countries on their raising-a-family capabilities. The categories the organization used included air quality, education expenditure, happiness, infant mortality, social protection systems, urban green space, and years of schooling."

"And no, just because your country has the most money, doesn't mean you automatically rank high in these. Shocking, isn't it? On the U.S. News & World Report's Best Countries to Raise a Family rankings, these were the top 10: I know, I know. You're looking for the U.S. Well, despite our $29.2 trillion GDP (Finland has $364.7 billion), we ranked #20 on Best Countries to Raise a Family."

"It makes sense considering the United States of America ranks #18 in the U.S. News & World Report's Best Countries overall ranking. We are a wealthy country with a great military and a huge culture, but when it comes to actually taking care of our citizens, protecting our education, and creating thriving communities in every pocket of America, that's a little lackluster."

Read at Scary Mommy