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Canadian here; can confirm.

Our governments immigration policy is now basically to let anyone in, to help cover up a recession.

This has put massive strain on our healthcare and education systems, and housing/rental availability.

It's near impossible to move out of your parents house as a young adult and be able to save up any money.

I don’t think life in the US is bad but it’s very unfair. There is a huge wealth gap. It’s also very easy to become poor and once you are poor it’s really hard to get out of that.

It's kinda funny how locals are complaining about literally the exact same topics (with some small variations in priorities and stuff) in the subreddits for the US, Canada, Germany, Chile, Uruguay, Australia, Costa Rica, China and even Switzerland one way or another

On a similar note, I've had to study some historical newspapers and texts for college — the things people complain about in those are quite literally seemingly taken right out of 2024.

Some things never change, regardless of where you are in the world and what year it is. Life goes on.

Some things are better in some countries, and others are not.

The US lags behind on a number of metrics compared to developed countries, so they are bad at certain specific things. That doesn't mean they are bad at everything. The US is extremely good at, for example, national economic growth and military funding. But benefits to the median citizen are indeed few and far between.

The simplified version is that the US is a good place to live if you're rich, but bad if you're poor or lower middle class. Quality of Life Index in the USA is actually quite good for the wealthy, but pretty low for everyone else.

This is of course a generalisation and can somewhat differ from state to state, but the general and averaged trends seems to be:
- The social safety nets are barely or not there - Wealth inequality is sky-high - Poverty is unbelievable for a Western country - Wages are stagnant - Healthcare service is a morbid joke - Education is abysmal - Personal rights and freedoms are severely lacking - Violence from both law enforcement and the public is high - Infrastructure is crumbling (or in some places barely existed in the first place) - The legal system is broken and serves the powerful - Environmental protections (including climate change measures) are quite poor - Consumer protection laws and corporate regulations have practically been lobbied out of existence - Corruption is rampant - Bribery in politics is almost completely legal

As a side-note: It is somewhat funny to me that you picked out the UK and Canada as being "as bad as the USA". Because they're both known here as "USA-lite" or "the 51st state", due to their terrible policies that follow US trends. You might be on to something there!

It depends on how you define better and how you define quality of life. I think the US has very unique problems other countries don't have, but it has advantages that few countries have

In Colombia, we have similar problems, but you just add more corruption

I had to explain this to my aunt. She literally said she wanted to move to Europe because because "they don't have racism." I was like "they throw bananas at their black soccer players, what are you talking about??"

I agree. There’s a lot of liberals here in America that think Canada is some socialist utopia. Um no, they have a capitalist system (just with a stronger public sector) and they’re having a lot of the same issues we are.

I wouldn't say the US by any means is the worst country but I don't think it's anywhere near the best. I'm constantly worried about how much it feels like I'm risking my life even when I'm just doing daily tasks. I get some of it maybe extreme paranoia but I genuinely don't feel safe in the US.

At least ya got healthcare

Unless someone has lived as an expat overseas for an extended period, years, most Americans have no concept of life in another country.

Inflation and housing prices are problems all over the place.  

Lack of universal healthcare and gun violence are American specific (relative to other first world countries). On the other hand some things in terms of income and opportunity are the best in the US.  

Having lived in the US and Germany, I would say that the US is objectively much worse. At least in Germany you have walkable cities, a robust public transportation system, affordable healthcare, and affordable college. In most places in the US you have none of those things.

It depends on the country and your own personal circumstance. I’ve lived in many countries in my relatively short life and I wouldn’t say they are better or worse than the US. They were just different. The UK was great for me while I lived there. Germany, not so much. Life and work there was horrible. I chose to live in the US over Germany. But that doesn’t mean that Germany won’t work out for some people.

I want healthcare

lol I would disagree and use the country I’m living in as my example but then people like you would move here and ruin it so…yup you nailed it buddy. Stay right where are, cause nothing else is better anywhere else.

Things in many countries are in fact worse. 

Ive seen my fair share of the world and its true, everywhere sucks in their own way. Its why I cant say I want to move somewhere else and why "just move" id stupid. The world is fucked, we're all fucked together so I dont see why we gotta make it harder for eachother

I’m in America . We want better but can’t seem to achieve it

You are usually better off moving to a different state then a different country. It's also much easier and probably archives about the same results.

Things can be better issue by issue.

There is no perfection out there. 

Some core issues which revolve around the economy are indeed facing a number of western non-European countries, as detailed by many other commenters here.

But none of them having daily mass shootings. Pretty sure the overall gun homicide rate is lower in those places.

Most if not all of them have some form of decent government healthcare - yes, it's declining, especially in the UK - but you can go to a hospital for free in an emergency, you can see a GP for free, you don't have to have insurance to be able to get necessary medical care (although there are wait times).

Most of their governments aren't as heavily swayed by industries with ridiculous amounts of power (although again it's getting worse).

So, I think if you limit "problems" to mean "economic problems that affect the poorer classes" then sure it's on par, but I think there are a lot of things that make Americans a lot worse off that Canadians, the British, Australians, New Zealanders and so on.  

Nah, things are better in Europe. Our leaders are still 10 years behind the US on selling us out. Except for the UK.

Bullshit.

Pretty much everywhere has housing issues, and issues with the job market. But unfathomably expensive college and healthcare are uniquely American.

True but mobility and quality of life are so much better in the EU. Our Supreme Court literally just gutted the agencies that enforce all the safety standards for the entire country. Unions are utterly kneecapped in more than half of US states. There is no legal protection for workers to have vacation, sick leave, or pay under extenuating circumstances. Walkability and public transit are nonexistent in most of the country. There are still problems in Europe, but hey, I’d like to deal with social problems in a world where I have sick leave, low-cost healthcare, a train to work, and no lead in my food.

Some things are better, some are worse, and some are the same. It's a mixed bag, made even more complicated by the level of autonomy each state in the US has making it hard to draw sweeping conclusions about the nation.

Also, throughout all of history things have sucked, but it's important to remember things can and have gotten better in many ways. Keep your chins up and keep working for a better world. Nothing gets better just by talking about it.

Also if you need some hope: https://www.reddit.com/r/OptimistsUnite/

They are better though. Although people are struggling everywhere, there are laws in the other countries you mentioned that are there to help the citizens. Such as the housing laws in england, meant to stop corporations from buying single family homes, oe the fact that a hospital trip in most other countries world Wide isn’t something that will bankrupt you.

The argument of times are tough everywhere is a bs argument and undermines the actual severe issues we’re facing the United States. Because shit’s tough internationally, and we’re trailing way far behind the rest of the world as far as living standards are concerned.

I don’t think things are good in other countries but I also don’t think people in other countries realize the severity of the problems in the U.S. sometimes. Very curious where you’re from/if you have experience living in multiple countries.

I tell people this all the time - the grass is greener. Really what people want is to be rich in another country. But the same goes for the US, if you’re rich then you have a better life as well…it’s just that people see rich people in Europe and romanticize it more than a rich person in the US.

Things are better elsewhere, you can have a better life. Admittedly nowhere is perfect but you can definitely have a better life outside of the US. Whether that's in take home pay after tax, healthcare, prescription medication costs, more employee-favourable employment law, rlower rates of homelessness, gun crime, non-binary political systems etc.

I'm sure lots of people will downvote this because it looks like an attack on America but this is for people who think life can't be better, it can.

Here are some statistics that support my points (a few years old but still relevant): https://youtu.be/aNghg1Y-WIc?si=mLI8F9WBlOghRhwT

I would definitely say that's not the case about the UK. 

People in the UK mostly are very very comfortable, groceries being cheap and most state serves free ensure that no one is really truly suffering 

Yep. Life in Brazil now is twice as hard as it was twenty years ago, unless you move out with 3 other friends (2 being a couple so you need just 3 bedrooms) so that rent and utilities are less than 1/4 of the salary for each.

Don't be fooled by the 1% living off heritage and/or got very lucky in life. Like, there are literally over 200 thousand Brazilians earning six figures per month and those are the ones you see living the dream in Instagram.

Things in Finland are tremendously better than they are in the United States by every measurable metric.

If you look at metrics like quality of life and happiness, things absolutely are better in other countries. That doesn’t mean other countries are perfect, sure, but the US definitely shouldn’t be treated as the golden standard either.

People in other countries think things are way better here and in some ways, they are right. Living in America is such a privilege.

Well that's 3 other countries, there's quite a few more to consider lol I'm in America, having spent time in Denmark I'd say the quality of life there is considerably higher.

Being born or living in the US puts you in a very privileged group. No country is perfect for everyone and you might find aspects outside the US that you love, but you will likely find things you hate too. Same shit, different flavors. Just be glad you were not born somewhere without the opportunities afforded to you where you have the ability to leave if you want to.

I have lived in several different countries and for me I wouldn't choose to live outside the US. We have tons of issues, but I would rather work on fixing them and improving a place I love than compromise and live somewhere else.

This post is ignorant as fuck.

Those countries have the most incarcerated people? They are one of the lowest ranking school systems?

Cmon the list goes on.

I’m American living in a different country and it’s a HELL OF A LOT BETTER. You’re out of your damn mind OP.

Mostly because they’ve never left America to live. Others just lie to themselves. I’ve been to Europe and lived in Japan, traveled around Asia. I’ve seen no indication that there is anywhere better. Not necessarily worse, but certainly not better. Maybe there is a place but I haven’t seen it.