Reference: Rodney Tiffen and Ross Gittins: "How Australia Compares"

This is a great little reference book. Tiffen and Gittins collect authoritative statistical data to show how Australia compares to 17 other countries - the criterium being that all of these countries are also Western-style liberal democracies. The other countries are, in no particular order, Canada, New Zealand, USA, Netherlands, Japan (the only Asian country in here), Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria and Ireland. It's fantastic to show people that what you yourself might already be vaguely aware of is actually a fact - gives your opinion heaps more weight and doesn't let Australians weasel out of arguments quite as easily.

Even though this book deals solely with comparisons between the aforementioned 17 countries, it is sometimes possible, depending on subject area, to extrapolate from these figures "global" or "international" statements and I will do so. When I quote from HAC in the blog, I'll limit myself to the "Top 5" in each statistic so's not to bludgeon everyone to death with numbers.

"How Australia Compares" is published by Cambridge University Press.

Rodney Tiffen is Associate Professor in Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. Ross Gittins is the Economics Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald.