In 1988, America was the best place to be born in the world. Based on The Economist Intelligence Unit's quality-of-life index - which links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys (how happy people say they are) to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries - USA was #1. Fast forward 25 years or so... and The United States now ranks 16th, just above South Korea and just below Taiwan and Belgium. From 1988... And now... * * * USA USA USA... 16th is the new "exceptional" Source: The Economist