There are 8 European counties with a higher standard of living that the US (2010 HDI figures), although the US does consistently very well and is rarely (from year to year) outside the top 10 countries (although it is at number 12 for 2010 figures I expect it to be back around 8 in the 2011 figures for all the obvious reasons).


   1.    Norway 0.876
   2.    Australia 0.864
   3.    Sweden 0.824
   4.    Netherlands 0.818
   5.    Germany 0.814
   6.    Switzerland 0.813
   7.    Ireland 0.813
   8.    Canada 0.812
   9.    Iceland 0.811
   10.    Denmark 0.810
   11.    Finland 0.806
   12.    United States 0.799
   13.    Belgium 0.794
   14.    France 0.792
   15.    Czech Republic 0.790
   16.    Austria 0.787
   17.    Spain 0.779
   18.    Luxembourg 0.775
   19.    Slovenia 0.771
   20.    Greece 0.768
   21.    United Kingdom 0.766
   22.    Slovakia 0.764
   23.    Israel 0.763
   24.    Italy 0.752
   25.    Hungary 0.736
   26.    Estonia 0.733
   27.    South Korea 0.731
   28.    Cyprus 0.716
   29.    Poland 0.709
   30.    Portugal 0.700