(OECD Stats) Germany, France, and UK would be the very poorest states if they joined the US (rent, homes)
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"Sweden would be poorer than all but 12 states. These national-level comparisons take into account taxes, and include social benefits (e.g., "welfare" and state-subsidized health care) as income. Purchasing power is adjusted to take differences in the cost of living in different countries into account."
This jives with my experience now living in Virginia. The standard of living between here and Sweden is so much better that it's not even funny.
I love on C-D when people don't like stats, they always claim the stats are wrong, but give no reason why.
I really like statistics, but it's important to know how those statistics are created. I don't say the statistics are wrong. Of course it's nice to compare the median income or GDP figures between different countries. That makes a lot of fun. But it's important to know that those statistics are extremely inaccurate. It starts with the GDP, it's nearly impossible to measure the economic output. Most of the sub-areas are just estimations.
Many Americans tend to take those statistics very seriously. Americans love to rank things. People really think that it's possible to express something very complex like living standard in just one figure. Most people really don't understand how those figures are created. That are just estimates and no one knows what methods they use for those PPP adjustments.
Normally I would say it's not necessary to explain why those statistics are questionable. Every educated people is aware that the significance of those figures is very limited.
According to the statistic from the OP. The median income in Mississippi is higher than in Germany. That's ridiculous. We already had an extra thread just for this comparison (last year or so). Many parts of Mississippi appears more like a third world country. A significant amout of the houses there seem to be rundown and it wouldn't probably allowed in Germany to live in those houses.
Those Americans that really believe that people in Mississippi are richer (higher median income) than people in Germany must live in delusion. Mississippi is maybe comparable to more affluent regions in Romania.
> US is 5x times larger than Western Europe
> Western Europe has more or less the same population of the US
> Density on average in Western Europe is much higher than in the US
> European cities are historical, hence they often exist within an already built city-network: all of this while US cities can develop much more freely.
>Still expecting houses as big as the US in Europe.
Almost every home that I have ever lived in has had a basement...a lot of it depends upon the region of the country that you are in (Obviously it is not in the best interests to build a house on a basement, if you live in earthquake zones like out certain places out west.) The majority of homes have basements especially in the North East and New England areas.
When we lived in Florida, in Miami - basements and ground level swimming pools were prohibited if you lived really close to the ocean....they had restrictions of how far you could dig,because of the sea level, etc.
Last edited by Crazee Cat Lady; 11-10-2015 at 12:16 PM..
Although it just includes rental you can compare the look, size, cost of various rental homes and Apartments around the globe on Craigslist....I was bored one time, and was doing this....it's fascinating.
But you said that basements are "uncommon" in the US. The stats in your link only show houses built since 2013. The overwhelming majority of Americans don't live in homes that have been built since 2013, and even if they did, 30% wouldn't be "uncommon".
About 32% of all 1 unit houses in the U.S. have a basement. Maybe "uncommon" is not the best description, but surely better than "basements are the norm in the U.S." from NOLA101
Some Americans don't know their own country very well.
And btw it doesn't matter for this topic, because if the basement is heatable it's normally calculated as living space in the U.S.
It's true that the U.S. has a reputation for being rich. But the question is, is that really true? I don't say that Germans have a higher median income. I just say that the U.S. doesn't appear so extraordinary rich to me. I found for example the American sister city of my hometown to be astonishing poor. Median income in the city is allegedly just about 10% below the median income for the U.S. Maybe other parts of the U.S. looks better than Massaschusetts. The houses for example seems to be a lot more modern and nicer in Texas.
Almost every home that I have ever lived in has had a basement...a lot of it depends upon the region of the country that you are in (Obviously it is not in the best interests to build a house on a basement, if you live in earthquake zones like out certain places out west.) The majority of homes have basements especially in the North East and New England areas.
When we lived in Florida, in Miami - basements and ground level swimming pools were prohibited if you lived really close to the ocean....they had restrictions of how far you could dig,because of the sea level, etc.
Please can you explain why the latest US housing survey came to the result that only 32% of all housing units have a basement?
Do you understand that different countries use different methods for the measuring of the living space? Your schemata about the house sizes is rather useless, because every country use different methods.
Please can you explain why the latest US housing survey came to the result that only 32% of all housing units have a basement?
Do you understand that different countries use different methods for the measuring of the living space? Your schemata about the house sizes is rather useless, because every country use different methods.
Quote:
By Natalia Siniavskaia on October 14, 2014 • (0)
NAHB analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC) data shows that nationally, about 30 percent of new single-family homes started in 2013 have a full or partial basement, 54 percent are built on slabs, and 15 percent have a crawl space.Oct 14, 2014
Notice that it says New homes.
Older homes were more likely to have basements...and I kind of like older homes, they have more personality. I can only relate to the fact that almost everywhere I have lived, we have had a basement.
Maybe, because I am looking for basements in the home, Idk. Besides at 30 or 32 percent almost a third of homes do have basements, and like I said, a lot is dependent upon the area or region that you live in.
Also, the articles I listed in the above post, are using a Universal measuring system (without the whole article/charts would be pointless.)
Like the second link states:
Quote:
To get a little perspective I’ve put together a graphic to illustrate how big the average new home is around the world.
The figures are in square-meters of usable floor space, and include data for both houses and flats.
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