SLC88 said:
Great Britain should join the 21st century. Having a royal family is an insult to the intelligence of all the "subjects".
Of the top ten countries on the Economist's 2005 quality of life index, six were monarchies, and the only country on the planet which emphasises quality of life (or "gross national happiness") over economic growth is Bhutan - a monarchy. Of the top ten countries for press freedom in 2012, eight were monarchies. Of the top sixteen countries by life expectancy, nine are monarchies. Of the thirteen countries that have "sustainable" (i.e. most stable) status on Fund for Peace's 2012 failed states index, eight are monarchies. Of the top ten countries on the UN's human development index for 2012, six were monarchies. Of the roughly twenty-five countries which have legalised gay marriage or are expected to within the next year, fourteen are monarchies, and the first state-recognised gay marriage of the modern era took place in 1993 in Cambodia - a monarchy. Of the top ten countries listed by purchasing-power-parity GDP/capita, seven are monarchies, rising to eight if you rank by nominal GDP/capita. Of the ten countries that are perceived as least corrupt by their citizens, seven are monarchies.
By contrast, the bottom ten countries on the 2012 human rights risk index (the most recent) are all republics, as are the worst ten countries for corruption, press freedom, human development, and GDP/capita (both PPP and nominal). Of the bottom twenty countries by life expectancy, all but two (Swaziland and Lesotho) are republics, and of the 33 countries given "alert" (i.e. least stable) status on the 2012 failed states index, all are republics.
Monarchies make up about a fifth to a quarter of the countries on the planet, so if monarchy was backward you'd expect them to perform poorly, i.e. you'd be lucky to see even one in the top ten of any ranking, and expect to see at least three (and usually more) in the bottom ten of those rankings. Yet the reverse is true: monarchies do better than republics on most (if not all) key performance indicators.
