When it comes to raising a family, a new study finds that the U.S. is not in the top 10 among the best countries to do so.
The annual Best Countries report revealed the North American country has a well-developed public education system. But when it comes to spending family time with the children in those schools, it's not in the top tier.
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The survey, conducted annually by U.S. News & World Report and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, compiles scores based on eight attributes. While public education is counted among them, other areas, including family friendliness, happiness and safety, are lacking.
The US ranks as No. 7 in overall rankings for the Best Countries list, it's No. 18 when it comes to the Best Countries to Raise Children. Italy, Spain, the U.K., Canada and Australia ranked higher with Denmark, Sweden and Norway ranking in at No. 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The same countries rounded out the top three in 2019, only Denmark was No. 2 and Sweden took the top spot.
"These countries tend to have generous paternal leave and maternal leave, offer free preschool and have good overall public education systems," Deidre McPhillips, senior data editor at U.S. News & World Report told CNN.
"One area where the US falls behind quite a bit is in the safety metric," she added. "In that attribute, the US actually ranks 32, pretty far down the list. So that really impacts its ratings for raising kids, of course."
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But while the U.S. didn't fair the best for having a family, it did better in areas of cultural influence, entrepreneurship and education, where it ranked at No. 4, 3 and 1 respectively.
Raising children was one of 65 rankings that the Best Countries report, which surveyed 73 nations, reviewed. Within those nations, 20,000 people from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East took the survey. They were split into three groups: business leaders, college-educated, self-described members of the middle class who read or view the news at least four days each week, and the general public. The latter group is defined as people over the age of 18 whose age and gender was nationally in line with their country’s demographics.
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