Simply the Best (or worst)

South Korea, like most countries, has its good points and its bad points. So thought I'd try a new kind of post. I've done a little research and come up with a fun and somewhat interesting list that I think highlights South Korea. We'll start with census facts from The UN.

Rankings
#1 Seoul population: 10, 765, 000 people (Sao Paulo is #2)




#7 Gas prices: 1.655 USD/liter (Great Britian is #1)

#81 Life expectancy: 59 for men, 64 for women (Japan is #1, Bahrain beat Korea...ouch!)

#13 Korean language is spoken by 75 million people (Chinese is #1, followed by English)

#39 Freedom of Press (Finland and Iceland are #1, US is #17)

#4 4.04 % in increased productivity from 2002 to 2004 (Poland is #1, US is #7)

#11 Budget expenditures in 2005 with 189,000,000,000 USD (US is #1)

#20 Account balances with 14,320,000,000 USD (#1 is Japan and US is in dead last)

#25 Debt with 188,400,000,000 USD (US is #1 with 8,837,000,000,000)

#18 Ecomomic aid donor with 423,000,000 (Japan is #1, UK is #2 and US is #3)

#13 Electricity consumption (US is #1)

#11 GDP with 1,021,000,000 USD (The EU is #1, US is #2)

#43 GDP per capita with 21,000 (Bermuda is #1, US is #5)

#26 Natural gas consumption (US is #1)

#10 Oil consumption (US is #1)

#62 Population below poverty line (Zambia is #1, US is #64)

#104 Unemployment rate (Liberia is #1, US is #91)

So, all that tells about is the "state" of Korea, but it doesn't tell much about the people and their abilities. Maybe this list will help.

#2 Math skills (#1 is Finland, US is #24) CBS NEWS http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/06/world/main659331.shtml

#1 International Breakdancing Championship http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=283830&rel_no=1

#52 FIFA (soccer) rankings (Brazil is #1, US is #23)

#21 International Men's Basketball

#8 International Women's Basketball

#1 ESL teachers



There are over 14,000 ESL teachers in South Korea and over 10,000 of those are in Seoul. I'm glad the Bengals, Reds and Vols all won their weekend games. It looks like the Bengals were on top of it, although Palmer was a bit shy. Ainge is on fire, but needs to keep it together. The Reds have a lot of work to do if they want to fight back up to that Wild Card position. I can't wait to go see them all next year. I hope you enjoyed all the stats. I found them interesting at least...

Update: I have started taking Judo and I'll fill you in as I find out whether it's for me. Besides that, I'm busy working, writing and planning my Cambodian trip. Fun times!!!