The EU in the world : stunning statistics

Maciamo

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If the EU were to be recognised as a country (see What are the criteria defining a country ?), its ranking in terms of economics, scientific and artistic achievements and sports would overshadow any other country in the world (yes, even the US and China, and sometimes by far). Here is a quick overview :

Sports

Here are the stats for the 27 EU countries (so without Norway, Switzerland, etc.). I couldn't count the medals of the 3 Baltic countries during the Soviet period, as they were part of the USSR.

Summer Olympic Games

Gold medals : 1831 (USA = 896, USSR+Russia = 481, China = 112)
Silver medals : 2001 (USA = 692, USSR+Russia = 399, China = 96)
Bronze medals : 2072 (USA = 603, USSR+Russia = 374, China = 78)
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TOTAL : 7976 (USA = 2191, USSR+Russia = 1261, China = 286) out of 12797 medals ever given to all combined countries (so just 2/3 of all medals)

Winter Olympic Games

Gold medals : 360 (USA = 78, USSR+Russia = 111, China = 4)
Silver medals : 383 (USA = 80, USSR+Russia = 81, China = 16)
Bronze medals : 400 (USA = 58, USSR+Russia = 78, China = 13)
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TOTAL : 1043 (USA = 216, USSR+Russia = 270, China = 33) out of 2311 medals ever given to all combined countries (so almost half).

If Norway were to join the EU (it's already half in it), this would seriously affect the Winter Olympic medal count, as it has earned more gold, silver and bronze medals alone than the USA. With Norway and Switzerland, the EU would have a total of 1441 medals, i.e. 80% of all medals worldwide.

Motor sports are not included in the Olympics, so I chose F1, the queen of all motor sports, as the reference.

Formula One

Number of World Champion (drivers) : 34 out of 56 since 1950 (all Europeans since 1992, except for 1997).
Number of World Champion (constructors) : 56 out of 56 !

Economy

The EU has the largest GDP in the world, noth nominal and at PPP, since it has reached 25 members in 2004. If the EU has a lower GDP per capita than the USA, one EU member state (Luxembourg) has by far the highest GDP per capita in the world (almost twice that of the USA).

The EU is also the biggest donor of development aid or ODA in the world (over twice that of the USA).

Sciences & Arts

Europe is the birthplace of some of the greatest artistic styles in the world, which have influenced and been copied by most cultures. Former colonies like the USA, Canada or Australia have inherited the best of European architecture. Even Japan and China have copied European architecture for the most prestigious buildings (e.g. banks' HQ, government buildings...). Museums and art galleries worldwide vie for European painters or sculptors. The most expensive paintings in the world are all European (Van Gogh, Picasso, etc.). 99% of the famous classical music composers are European (maybe 90% without Russia).

Europe invented most of the technology and products we use in our daily life (over twice more than the USA and Japan combined, => see Who invented what).

One way to quantify modern scientific and literary achievements is to count the number of Nobel prizes for each field. Note that these figures for Europe are mostly for Northern and Western Europe.

Nobel prizes

TOTAL Nobel laureates (including Peace) : 350 (USA = 155, USSR+Russia = 21, Japan = 12, China = 8)

Again, Norway and Switzerland would considerably increase those numbers (+33 Nobel prizes for both of them).

Field Medal of Mathematics : 20 (USA = 20, Japan = 1)

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EU vs USA

In summary, the EU is comparable to the USA in terms of GDP (that really depends on the change rate), and the USA has a greater military power and better rated universities (more funds).

However the EU beats the US in sciences, arts and sports, especially if we look at historical records. The EU has earned over twice more Nobel prizes, about 4x more Summer and Winter Olympic medals, dominates in motor sports, is the leader in food products, alcohols, fashion, cosmetics, classical arts (music, architecture, paintings...), and invented over twice more of the major inventions used in everyday life.
 
Here is a comparison of international rankings for European countries. Note that non-EU European countries are in brackets.

Press freedom (2004 ranking by Reporters Without Borders)

1) Finland
-) Denmark
-) Netherlands
-) Ireland
-) (Iceland)
-) (Norway)
-) (Switzerland)
8) Slovakia
9) Czech Republic
-) Slovenia
11) Estonia
12) Sweden
-) Hungary
16) Austria
-) Latvia
18) Germany
-) Belgium
-) Greece
21) Lithuania
23) Portugal
24) United Kingdom
25) Cyprus
30) France
40) Spain
42) Italy
53) Poland

(no stats available for Malta and Luxembourg)

A few major non-European countries :

21) Canada
31) Australia
37) Japan
44) United States
106) India
137) United States (in Iraq)
138) Russia
159) China



Growth Competitiveness Index ranking for 2004 from World Economic Forum

1) Finland
3) Sweden
5) Denmark
6) (Norway)
8) (Switzerland)
10) (Iceland)
11) United Kingdom
12) Netherlands
13) Germany
17) Austria
20) Estonia
23) Spain
24) Portugal
25) Belgium
26) Luxembourg
27) France
30) Ireland
32) Malta
33) Slovenia
36) Lithuania
37) Greece
38) Cyprus
39) Hungary
40) Czech Republic
43) Slovakia
44) Latvia
47) Italy
60) Poland

A few major non-European countries :

2) USA
9) Japan
14) Australia
15) Canada
46) China
55) India
70) Russia

State of the World's Mothers Index for 2004 from Save the Children

1) Sweden
2) Denmark
-) Finland
4) Austria
-) Netherlands
6) (Norway)
9) United Kingdom
11) Czech Republic
14) Slovenia

No stats for the 17 other EU countries.

A few major non-European countries :

7) Australia
-) Canada
10) United States
21) Russia
45) China


Quality of Life Index for 2005 from The Economist

This index takes into account : material well-being, health, political freedom, job security, family life, climate and geography, political stability, gender equality and community life.

Note that climate and geography penalises most northern and eastern European countries, which partly explains the good ranking of Italy, Spain and Portugal, and very poor performance of Baltic countries and Russia. What is more, the Economist says it calculate the climate and geography points based on latitude, which is an enormous mistake. Everybody knows that Japan, which is at the latitude of Spain and Morroco has a climate closer to the one of the UK and France. Likewise Scandinavian cities have higher latitude than Canadian ones, but are warmer all year round. At euqal latitude Ireland is much warmer than Latvia. This is all due to the Gulf Stream warming up Western Europe.

I also doubt the validity of community life, which the Economist based solely on church attendance and trade union memberships. Naturally less religious countries (i.e. in Europe) where church attendance is extremely low are unjustly penalised.

Furthermore, the Economist calculates job security based on unemployment, but doesn't take the generosity of social security (unemployment benefits) into acount. In the same way, it is absurd to calculate health only based on life expectancy, without taking the quality and affordability of healthcare into account.

I also don't see why political stability increases quality of life. Very unstable countries may be unsecure, but the most politically stable ones are all dictatorships. Points should thus be given to those closest to the ideal balance (to be defined).

Because of all the above, I find the following ranking quite nonsensical. For instance, I don't see how quality of life could be higher in the USA than in Canada or the EU-15 when it's fairly obvious than job security (due to the lack of social security in the US), healthcare, political and press freedom, and family life (based on the high divorce rate and longer working hours in the US) are all worse in the US. From personal experience I also can't believe that quality of life in Japan is better than in Belgium, France or the UK.

1) Ireland
2) (Switzerland)
3) (Norway)
4) Luxembourg
5) Sweden
7) (Iceland)
8) Italy
9) Denmark
10) Spain
12) Finland
16) Netherlands
19) Portugal
20) Austria
22) Greece
23) Cyprus
24) Belgium
25) France
26) Germany
27) Slovenia
28) Malta
29) United Kingdom
34) Czech Republic
37) Hungary
45) Slovakia
48) Poland
63) Lithuania
66) Latvia
68) Estonia

The EU-15 average would be in 15th position (EU countries included in the ranking) or 8th (if those 15 individual countries are removed from the ranking). In either case, the EU-15 ranks just between Canada and Japan.

A few major non-European countries :

6) Australia
13) United States
14) Canada
17) Japan
60) China
73) India
105) Russia
 
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I'm wondering if the Nobel prizes and Olympic medals should be averaged by the period average population- some kind of composite per capita... I would think that they should have more medals because they have had more people...?
 
sabro said:
I'm wondering if the Nobel prizes and Olympic medals should be averaged by the period average population- some kind of composite per capita... I would think that they should have more medals because they have had more people...?

Such statistics already exist. Countries like Sweden, Australia, Hungary, Romania, The Netherlands or Cuba have the highest ratio per capita for Summer Olympics, while Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Switzerland are by far the best for winter olympics.
 
Not that it makes a difference, but the stats would be skewed...As far as the Olympics, aren't countries limited to certain numbers of entries per event? If a group of countries suddenly becomes one, doesn't that mean that certain entries that previously won medals would have been excluded? Also haven't entries from European countries made up the majority of athletes until recently?

It should be expected that games that originated in Europe and where there is a clear majority of European Athletes competing in mostly European events, that Europeans should dominate. I expect countries that have extensive winters to do better in winter games than those of more temperate climates.
 
sabro said:
Not that it makes a difference, but the stats would be skewed...As far as the Olympics, aren't countries limited to certain numbers of entries per event? If a group of countries suddenly becomes one, doesn't that mean that certain entries that previously won medals would have been excluded? Also haven't entries from European countries made up the majority of athletes until recently? It should be expected that games that originated in Europe and where there is a clear majority of European Athletes competing in mostly European events, that Europeans should dominate.
That doesn't explain why some European countries do much less well than others (e.g. recently the UK).
I expect countries that have extensive winters to do better in winter games than those of more temperate climates.
So why do the UK, Russia, China, Japan or Canada not do better at winter olympics ?
 
Maciamo said:
So why do the UK, Russia, China, Japan or Canada not do better at winter olympics ?

Not sure about UK, Russia or Canada, but Asian countries like China and Japan their athletics are Asian people who are physically weaker on average than whites (not counting Northern Chinese they appeared to be rather tall and have muscular arms). :haihai:

Asians are not very keen on sports. In Asian culture parents are biased to discipline their children to go for careers in science and mathematics. Also winter sports equipments cost more than summer sport?fs equipments, so in China?fs case probably not many people can afford it?:?
 
Korea has a good boxing program. Asians compete well in baseball and asian sports like Tae Kwon Do, Judo and Sumo.
 

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