[bequanna]

Can you cite some specifics?

I’ve travelled to quite a few places in Europe and coming from the American Midwest, we are beating much of Europe in most/all QoL metrics by a mile.

Much larger and nicer homes, larger properties, mincer automobiles, more variety of all consumer goods, higher incomes, more wealth and social mobility to name a few and I live in “flyover” country.

[missedthecue]

Based on conversations I've had, it seems most Americans who think that way took a vacation to a ritzy area of Barcelona, Nice, or Florence, and and deduced that 100% of Europeans, must live like that.

[bequanna]

That could be.

Very interested to hear specific ways the Europeans are beating us and where exactly they are hiding all that prosperity!

[Alcatros552]

Take life expectancy https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-life-expectancy-ma... or take how we treat the elderly and you will know the difference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhlIiMgDxm4

[tomjakubowski]

Suicide rates are a good place to start. Overall the EU's suicide rate is 10.25/100k vs 14.04/100k in the US, and it looks like many places in the Midwest are doing worse than the US average.

[1] US suicide rates https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/suicide-mortality/...

[2] EU suicide rates https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/e...

[boudin]

It's a matter of opinion and what people want, but from American i crossed path with who settled in western Europe: accessible health-care, better infrastructures, holidays and work-life balance are some of the things that are recurring.

[woodruffw]

I meant by both proxy statistics (e.g. life expectancy) and self-reported statistics (e.g. QoL metrics). I've linked both of those in comments in an adjacent subthread.

I, like many Americans, would take a strong safety net, sustainable urban development and a smaller home over the US's mess of a safety net, socially devastating suburban sprawl, and a 4000 sqft McMansion.

[hotpotamus]

Which QoL metrics?