7

In 2014, 1,149 people were killed by police officers. Unsurprisingly, a study found that the most common form of police misconduct is excessive force.

6

According to the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, there are almost 750,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. 106,216 of these are in the state of California alone. Stick your head out the window and give them a wave now.

 

5

According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States annually consumes at least eighteen percent of the total worldwide energy consumption. While this mightn’t sound like much, keep in mind that there are only 320 million people in the country — just four and a half percent of the world’s total population.

4

The advent of smartphones has made our brains busier than ever before. We’re constantly assaulted with information and this technology addiction and forced multitasking is taking its toll, making us less efficient.

It’s estimated there’ll be 2.56 billion smartphone users in the world by 2018. That’s a lot of distracted idiots crossing the street.

3

EPA figures indicate that Americans throw out about 4.5 pounds – or two kilograms – of trash every day. Accounting for the country’s entire population, this means 1.4 billion pounds (635 million kilograms) of trash is tossed out daily.

This makes America among the most wasteful countries on Earth, with Nevada being the most wasteful state for five years running. However, the US still generates less municipal solid waste than the Caribbean, which lacks waste management options, proper infrastructure and has a fuck-tonne of wasteful tourists using their golden sands for a toilet.

2

Average SAT scores in America have been falling for years. Currently, fifteen-year-olds who attend American public schools rank below the top half of all industrialised nations in math or science literacy.

We need to fix this frightening downward trajectory before we all end up in the Centre for Kids Who Can’t Read Good. At least we’ll learn how to do other stuff good, too.

1

A 2014 study reconfirmed that the US is still the most overweight country on the planet. Worldwide, 38 percent of men and 36.9 percent of women are considered overweight or obese; however, in the US, 70.9 percent of men and 61.9 percent of women make their bathroom scales quake with fear.

Mexico takes second place in the obesity stakes – at least in the industrialised world.

One contributing factor to the US’s weight problem is that the average citizen drinks more than six hundred cans of sodas a year. What’s even grosser is that some of those were probably Dr Peppers. Ew.

INFO & IMAGE SOURCES