Norway and United States compared

according to U.S. government publications, none of the population of Norway is below the poverty line, Norway has the highest standard of living in the world, and Norway has an incredibly low Gini index of 27 for the inequality of the distribution of income. Furthermore, fully 100% of the Norwegian population is literate, and they have a per capita GDP of $33,000.

Compare this to the United States, which “has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world”. While the US has a per capita GDP of $37,600, the population lags behind Norway in literacy — 97% — and, more alarmingly, the Gini index for the inequality of distribution of income is 40.8. (Basically, the Gini index is a scale from 0 to 100, with 0 as incomes being completely equal, and 100 as incomes being completely unequal.) Finally and worst, 12.7% of the US population is below the poverty line. Twelve point seven percent, in the most prosperous nation in the world. In other words: although the US has a significantly larger per capita GDP than Norway — in other words, per citizen, people in the United States make more money — the US also has a much, much larger proportion of people living in poverty.