One of the important infrastructure needs of a country are the roads. An excellent road network not only helps people travel from one place to another easily but also facilitates the movement of goods thereby increasing trade and unleashing further economic activities. In many emerging countries of the world, poor roads are a major hindrance to development. On Youtube, there is a fascinating series called The Deadliest Roads. Each episode shows the dangerous roads in a particular country that people use every day for survival. In many of these countries, some people lose their lives or get seriously injured because of poor road conditions.

Mariano Moszoro and Mauricio Soto of IMF recently published a post on The World’s Fastest and Slowest Roads. As expected, the slowest roads in the world are in poorer countries. From the post:

IMF staff have developed a novel measure of road quality across 162 countries using Google Maps to determine the mean, or average, time it takes to drive between large cities that are at least 80 kilometers (50 miles) apart. As the Chart of the Week shows, the world’s fastest roads are found in richer economies including the United States, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Canada. The slowest roads are found in the poorest countries—another obstacle to inclusive growth. An interactive version of the map can be viewed here.

Source: Where Are the World’s Fastest Roads?, IMF Blog

In Latin America, Chile and Argentina have the fastest roads.

The United States spends more on defense spending than the next 9 countries combined as shown in the chart below. Defense spending accounts for more than 10 percent of all Federal government spending. In addition, half of all discretionary spending accounts for defense spending.

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Source: Peter G.Peterson Foundation

The US healthcare system is the most expensive in the world. Such high spending does not necessarily lead to superior outcomes. The deaths of more than a million Americans in the covid pandemic is one evidence of that. One important factor that drives the cost of healthcare in the country is administrative costs due to the mind-boggling complexities of the healthcare system. Administrative costs do not help the patient’s cure or well-being. It involves everything from highly compensated executives in hospitals to care deniers in insurance companies to thousands of people doing the billing, etc. This waste costs the country more than three times from the next spender on administrative costs as shown in the chart below:

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Source: How Does the US Healthcare System Compare to Other Countries, Peter G. Peterson Foundation