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[Graelyn]

The Nobel has been a joke for a while now.

[Desiderya]

Here we go again, never say never. 

If you could lend me the favor of not constructing your own vision of some obese white Texan inventing stories so he can put 'murica on a pedestal, I would be most appreciative.

Don't put these words into my mouth, I think you're better than that.

Des, click on the second link in the Wikipedia article you provided.  That page discusses the differences Vikarion mentioned.

It does, yes. I'm not denying that that happens, although I want to point out that this is not an issue in all european countries (Since the majority adheres to the WHO rules). Note what the source of the wikipedia article thinks about this overall:

However, it appears unlikely that differences in reporting are the primary explanation for the United States’ relatively low international ranking. In 2005, 22 countries had infant mortality rates of 5.0 or below. One would have to assume that these countries did not report more than one-third of their infant deaths for their infant mortality rates to equal or exceed the U.S. rate. This level of underreporting appears unlikely for most developed countries.

And I must confess, too, when I think about "european countries" and "best place to live in" I'm not thinking about Poland, Romania or Portugal same as I wouldn't think about Detroit when discussing the upsides of the United States.

[orange]

And I must confess, too, when I think about "european countries" and "best place to live in" I'm not thinking about Poland, Romania or Portugal same as I wouldn't think about Detroit when discussing the upsides of the United States.

When discussing the success of any union, it is important to recognize the upsides and downsides.

I don't think it is fair to exclude Poland, Romania, Portugal, etc as being part of Europe when the individual who brought the EU's metrics up started the sentence with "best shot a theoretical Earth Federation."

The European Union is the best shot at a theoritical Earth Federation, and is metrically the best place on the planet to live, before this current crisis.

[Desiderya]

Absolutely correct, it isn't fair. Also I'm not excluding them, I was thinking about that from a perspective where I've posed myself the question: If I'd want to emigrate (within europe), where would I go to, which as you can imagine is pretty biased.
If we're talking metrics we should look at the european average which still doesn't disappoint, even if there's a west-east and north-south slope.

Now we're coming back to the topic, because reducing these differences ( often at the cost of the economically stronger member states - you should see the critics ;O ) is the stated goal of the european union, hence the price maybe wasn't entirely undeserved.