Earlier this year, Lebanon ranked among the worst countries to raise children according to U.S. News & World Report.
U.S. News & World Report is an American media company that publishes news, opinion, rankings, and more. Early in 2020, the publication ranked this year’s Best Countries for Raising Kids.
The ranking scored each country based on the following attributes:
- caring about human rights
- being considered family-friendly
- its environment for gender equality
- being seen as happy
- having income equality
- being safe
- having a well-developed public education system
- having a well-developed health care system
Ironically, the United States isn’t even in the top 10 of the list. Instead, topping this year’s list is Denmark, which was #2 out of 80 in 2019. Sweden came second falling short from last year’s #1 position. Canada was ranked #4.
The list goes on and includes nearby countries like Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, and Qatar.
While Lebanon wasn’t technically named one of “the worst” countries, it was definitely the least ‘best’, appearing at the very bottom of the ranking.
Out of 73 countries ranked from best to worst, Lebanon was placed #72, just before Kazakhstan. This ranking was back at the beginning of the year; the situation here is even worse.
The low ranking is a striking indication of how tough the Lebanese have been having it from their successive governments failing their responsibilities towards the citizens.
Their adamant quest for reforms is not a question of politics or to counter ideologies. It is a rightful demand for their citizenship rights to improve the living conditions in the country.