It’s a stereotype that Dutch people are greedy, even among themselves, it’s a running gag “Kijken! Kijken! Niet kopen! (Have a look, have a look, but don’t buy it!) that many foreign shop owners jokingly throw around when Dutch tourists walk into their stores. But are the Dutch really that greedy? Do they really keep everything to themselves?
“Live Long and Prosper.”
It’s the famous saying of Star Trek’s favorite Vulcan, Dr. Spock: “Live long and prosper”. It’s a generous thing to say but how many countries are actually trying to make a difference outside their own borders? The Good Country Index rates 163 nations on their efforts and effects on the prosperity and advancement of humanity and the planet as a whole.
The index calculates their results based on 35 different indicators under seven main groups including Science & Tech, Planet & Climate and Prosperity & Equality. Final results are then divided by gross national product (GDP) to ensure there’s a level playing field.
The data is provided by the UN, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.
Simon Anholt, the maker of the index, is a policy adviser who has worked with governments across the globe for the last quarter century. In an interview with Huffington Post he said his aim to be to move away from traditional performance measurements such as GDP and military might and size. Rather, more importantly, to stop looking at countries as purely individual nation states that are isolated from each other: “In the age of advanced globalization … we’re all part of a massively interconnected system. And what goes on in one country invariably has an impact on people in other countries. It’s a closed system, it’s a zero-sum game. … I just thought: Who’s measuring that? Who’s measuring the interconnections?”
Who Ranks Where and Why?
The Netherlands has taken over the #1 spot from Sweden, which ranked first last year, and is now the top performer globally out of a Top 10 entirely dominated by European nations. The United States for example, the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the history of mankind, ranks at an embarrassing 25th place.
The U.S. results, Anholt noted, are predominantly based on data from 2014. Meaning the results are, therefore, pre-Trump administration. “It looks as if the U.S. was starting this process of beginning to disengage from the rest of the world well into the Obama presidency,” He said.
According to the index the U.S. “still does a lot of good as well as harm outside its own borders,” – noting however that the country’s scores are moving in the wrong direction. And given the new Trump Administration’s foreign policies, this is only more likely to grow worse.
The U.S. did particularly bad in regards of peace and security, which according to Anholt is common among rich Western democracies,particularly due to overseas military operations and weapons exports. The steepest American drop in score compared to last year was in contributions to international prosperity and equality ― how much a country contributes in terms of free and open trade and spreading wealth.
The U.S. falls behind almost the entirety of its allies such Western Europe, Canada and Japan in the Good Country Index.
(Although the Netherlands might be #1 in a lot of stuff, we aren’t number one when it comes to keeping your cool like Kevin Hart and Usain Bolt 😀 )
So what’s the top 10 of the Good country index?
Anholt told Huffington that the ultimate aim of the index is to encourage more co-operation between countries and less competition, “Most of our problems are rapidly and dangerously multiplying because of globalization. We need our governments to understand that they’re not just responsible for their own voters and taxpayers, but for every living thing on the planet.”
And without further ado, here’s the Top 10:
#1. Netherlands
#2. Switzerland
#3. Denmark
#4. Finland
#5. Germany
#6. Sweden
#7. Ireland
#8. United Kingdom
#9. Austria
#10. Norway
And if you just can’t get enough of Holland’s outstanding performances – we also rank as the Number #1 English-speaking country outside of the “Anglophone World” and persistently rank high as one of the happiest people and countries on earth. Pretty good living in Holland!
It might be ”ranked” as #1
but after 18 years of living here i have come to the conclusion that this place in an absolute hellhole.
The Dutch are very much illusioned. And this whole economy is pretty much a ”screw you” economy.
I’ve been living here for 18 years and i’ve done my best to accept the culture and fit in, but one day you wake up and smell the coffee and take of the rosy sunglasses and see it for what it is.
Dutch people are cold. They care more about money than your health. They will con you whenever they can. That’s why they are considered such ”good” merchants all throughout history. They are the best at forcing themselves to the biggest end of the bargain, even with things like threats of violence (even shopkeepers play the subtle threat game, try returning a faulty product to anything that isn’t a supermarket. Good luck with that)
Ano I couldn’t agree more, everything is answerd with “but what’s in it for me” . It’s a Tax haven for politicians. Public toilets…. Always pay, parking…. Always pay. They even break international law which states no government is to charge tax on tax. Buy a train ticket…. You pay for your travel and are charged extra for the physical ticket then you are charged for buying a ticket and last but not least charged a flag fall rate….yes for a train ride. Your lied to about health insurance and forced to pay out the nose. Somehow every year the prices go up regardless the true state of the economy. Ask your boss for a pay rise get it 5 salaries later than agreed. Do overtime and the boss conveniently forgets to pay it out 3 months in a row. In fact there’s even a question in the tax return that asks you how much money you have in your wallet…. Banks think there doing you a service you get a 1.3% investment return on a minimum investment of €3000 if you agree too and only paid out after 10 years… Seriously I could go on for ever.
What makes me astonished is that they are a rich country, but they live like poor people. They miss basic services and facilities, they give away everything in their life just to save money:
– They would prefer to work in a dark and poorly illuminated environment if that saves them money
– They would prefer eating unhealthy, quick food on the fly to save time (and time is money)
– A lot of women give birth at home to avoid paying the hospital bill
– Basic healthcare is missing: doctors are not going to care about any of their problems
– They are fine with living in an old, dilapidated apartment where they don’t invest one cent in renovations
– From the previous point the conclusion that they don’t get enough sleep, either because they want to save time or because their apartment is noisy
– During corona I’ve ever heard about employers forcing their employees to work physically if they think that this makes them more efficient. These who think that it saves money to work remotely instead liked the idea of remote work
– All the above points come from the fact that they bargain for everything. You have the health care service trying to save money by cutting down the expenses, or an apartment owner trying to gain money by speculating on apartments and then renting them at a very high price without doing any maintenance… every problem on this chain is given by the fact that there is somebody either speculating or trying to save money by giving away basic needs such as getting enough sleep, decent food, enough sunlight and a decent healthcare service.
They end up living with lower life standards than people in Southern Europe because of their greedy Mentality.
Sorry but the Dutch can be extremely greedy. They literally will come after you for 0.12 cent. It is because I saw it myself and that was just 1 example.