When it comes to pointing out the issues of the United States, it's not surprising that people will often turn to other countries for solutions. "Why can't we be more like the UK?" "Why can't we be more like Germany?" "Why can't we be more like Canada?"
I'm not criticizing anyone for saying this, in fact I completely understand. If another country has something going on that's better, we should get in on it. The problem however I want to point out is that people seem to think that comparing countries to countries is an Apples to Apples comparison, that's just not right.
When you want to implement something, we can all agree that the larger the population the more chaotic implementing it will become. Small numbers makes things easier cause you can see right away whether or not it will work, and it gives you lee way for experimenting.
So how big of a difference is the population between the US and other countries?
In the United States we have 315 MILLION people.
The population of Finland = 5.4 Million.
How about a bigger country? Germany? 82 Million.
UK? 64 Million.
France? 66 Million.
Sweden? 9.5 Million.
Denmark? 5.6 Million.
Norway? 5 Million.
New York City? 8.3 Million.
Wait, New York City? Yup, not a country. More people live in New York City than Norway. In fact Norway is the Equivalent of Colorado with 5.2 Million.
What about outside Europe? Okay.
Australia? 23 Million.
New Zealand? 4.4 Million.
Canada? 35 Million.
California has 38 Million people which is bigger than Canada.
In fact if you add up all the other countries I just mentioned, it still wouldn't equal the total population of the United States. It would 299.9 Million.
Think about that. So the next time you hear someone say "Why can't we be more like Finland?" tell them because we have 300 Million more people.
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Why can't we be more like China?