When ranked by infant mortality rates, Portugal is 11 slots higher than the U.S., according to the United Nations.
If you don't trust them, they're 16 slots higher according to the CIA factbook.
Not exactly the third-world you seem to think it is, although I will admit he's probably not getting rich sharpening knives and fixing umbrellas.
Yeah... about that...
The United States has one of the loosest criteria for recording infant mortality rates in the world. If there was any chance the baby could have survived, if it was miscarried in the third trimester, if it was born with a deformity that only let it live for a few minutes, if there was some procedure like a heart operation to fix a deformity but didn't work, etc. etc., then the US records it as an "Infant Mortality."
In other countries, the baby doesn't make the list unless it was born healthy and has a reasonable chance at living.
Incidentally, along those same lines, when it comes to charitable giving, the United States ranks well behind many other nations as well... because the only money that is officially counted is money given by the federal government, and it's counted as a percent of GDP, not actual dollars. We have one of the highest GDPs in the world, so our small percentage given by the government is many actual dollars more than a bigger percentage given by Germany or France, for instance.
And they don't count private companies or donations, like churches, boy scout drives, Red Cross, etc. etc.
Always look at the "poor standing" of the United States in the world with a jaundiced eye.
-Brad
