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I don’t know anyone in Europe who owns a house, except one retired married teacher in Switzerland, and even he has to take a whole day trip if he wants to visit somewhere else because he is in the countryside.
A lot of the infrastructure and economic advancement has been, and continues to be, paid for by taxpayers in Northern Europe via transfers from the EU. For example under the Recovery Plan Spain's received over €30bn, and will get €10bn more. Under the Autonomous Community Fund they'll shortly get €20bn.To be honest, I thought the GNP data would be a decent indicator of the country. Even within the US, I notice the difference in infrastructure between high-income states and low-income states. Since the GNP per capita of the US is about twice that of Spain, I thought Spain would be somewhat less prosperous than the US, which I found to be completely not the case. Public system is much better. Cities are safer. The costs of living, as far as I can tell as a tourist, are lower. Don't have first-hand experience with health-care in Spain, but I heard it is affordable unlike the US. So needless to say, my impression of Spain is quite good except for food (but that's a different issue).
I agree with you and I am from Canada, I can live for a month and a half cheaper than in Canada.I visited Spain for the first time and came back to the US few weeks ago. My overall impression of the country, after visiting major cities to small towns, is that Spain seems to have higher standard of living/quality of life than the US. Streets are clean, no blighted and dangerous areas, didn't have to use it but I heard that they have excellent yet affordable health care, restaurants are not crazy expensive like in the US so people can go out and enjoy, even small cities have good walking/biking trails and recreation facilities, public transportation system is well-developed, etc. Nominal GNP per capita in the US (~$76000) is more than twice that of Spain (~$32,000). Even GNP per capita at purchasing power parity, which might be a better indicator of real income, shows that the US (~$78,000) is much higher than Spain (~$46,000). On paper, the US should have twice the living standard of Spain (or Spain 2 times poorer than the US), but it certainly does not feel that way. What am I missing here? Can anyone enlighten me on this?
It seems that what is missing in the US is walkability/good public transportation system as opposed to everybody owning a car and having to drive everywhere. Conviviality, sense of community or gathering in the square/cafe enjoying the company are all facilitated, to a great extent, by walkability/public transport system. Someone mentioned that there are plenty of places in Spain where the town square is, routinely, filled with people until the very late evening. I doubt that would be feasible if you have to drive your car in congested traffic and then spend more time trying to find a parking space instead of just walking or hopping onto a bus/metro to get to the square.Friends who visit tell about driving from the house to the parking space and it reminds me of how disassociated from others I felt when I lived in the US.
I don't own a car and hop on a train to go to events
I think you may have hit the nail on the head . Quality of life is not so much measured by what you have but by who you are as a society.Having lived in Spain for 8 months last year, I think it's much more than just income. What I see in a lot of Spain is an inclusive culture, not dominated by income and expenditure, but by family and community. So, in the small town where I lived, if the weather was good everyone was out in the square, some at cafes, but many more just sitting on benches enjoying the company. No-one was excluded because they couldn't afford, or didn't want, to buy anything.
While the overall average income is lower than the US, I think the gap between rich and poor is smaller, which generally makes for a happier, more equal society.
socialismThe US recently sent 100 billion in military aid between Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan rather than spending it on there own infrastructure at home or it's own citizens. They do this quite often.
Most US cities look old, tired and stuffed with homeless people.
Priorities.
As a European who visits the US alot, the lack of public transport is the biggest issue by far. It makes life virtually impossible, as a non driver.It seems that what is missing in the US is walkability/good public transportation system as opposed to everybody owning a car and having to drive everywhere. Conviviality, sense of community or gathering in the square/cafe enjoying the company are all facilitated, to a great extent, by walkability/public transport system. Someone mentioned that there are plenty of places in Spain where the town square is, routinely, filled with people until the very late evening. I doubt that would be feasible if you have to drive your car in congested traffic and then spend more time trying to find a parking space instead of just walking or hopping onto a bus/metro to get to the square.
I have even seen homeless people playing backgammon on the street in Athens.Squares frequented by loads of folks with old men playing cards, young families in squares and so on!
I think that I've read every post on this thread, and I haven't seen any real "attack" on the US, but many posts pointing out some of the deficiencies, mostly in the area if public transportation.I posted nice constructive comments earlier on this string to try to generate thoughts about the cultural differences. Then you just had to start attacking America.
Since the moderators seem to have either quit paying attention to this string,,, or they agree with the American attacks.
Lets find out.
I volunteer at an animal shelter back home in the US. Daily, we feed the animals in their small cages and pens. After feeding, we let them all out into a large play area for a couple of hours. It'sojust so heart-warming to see their great enjoyment of life.
Remember, the United States is a huge country, and the conditions are different depending on which state, county, or city you are in, so we shouldn't be making generalizations about it.I have always felt that the infrastructure of Spain makes the United States look like a Third World country! Today on our Taxi ride from Burgos to Leon I was astonished at how clean the highways were. Everything is in good repair, clean and bright . I saw no homeless camps , no needles in the park, no trash laying around. They put us to shame in my opinion.
Hi, to clarify, I meant “house” not “home”. According to the European Commission website, 35% of Europeans in May 2021 lived in detached houses. I just don’t know any except 1. Wikipedia says 33.3% (2015).Lots of Europeans own their house!
I know this because of the situation in my country.
Homeownership rate in countries in Europe 2023 | Statista
In the presented European countries, the homeownership rate extended from 42 percent in Switzerland to as much as 96 percent in Albania.www.statista.com
Home ownership Spain ( numbers 2022 ) : 76 %.
We don’t delete posts that we disagree with. You, and fellow forum members are free to express your opinion so long as you stay within the rules i.e. no sports, politics or religion.I posted nice constructive comments earlier on this string to try to generate thoughts about the cultural differences. Then you just had to start attacking America.
Since the moderators seem to have either quit paying attention to this string,,, or they agree with the American attacks.
Lets find out.
I volunteer at an animal shelter back home in the US. Daily, we feed the animals in their small cages and pens. After feeding, we let them all out into a large play area for a couple of hours. It'sojust so heart-warming to see their great enjoyment of life.
That must be based on a 2019 Eurostat survey (see here).Hi, to clarify, I meant “house” not “home”. According to the European Commission website, 35% of Europeans in May 2021 lived in detached houses. I just don’t know any except 1. Wikipedia says 33.3% (2015).
Worth pointing out that a few weeks ago I googled ‘how happy are Americans living in USA with living in their country’ and they overwhelming are according to many surveys.
but of course this forum is frequented by folks that are very pro Spain so a certain direction of thought is likely. Also most folks see the best side of Spain, and in a way just race thru Spain for a month and go home, not really ‘seeing’ Spain. It’s not overly objective and neutral, but it doesn’t need to be be…it’s just a forum chat I guess!
Thank you. Yes I googled this the other day when I saw this thread! Finland followed by a number of its neighbours!Good points. In fact, I always like to compare forum chat with actual research. Fwiw. According to the 2024 World Happiness Report 2024, the USA ranks as nr 23 on the world happiest countries (6.7 on average) and Spain as nr 36 (6.4).
The world happiest country, of course, remains Finland.
I doubt that some of the generalisations and comparisons made in this thread would hold up under scrutiny.
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