As far as I can see, this is a report on a report on a report of a report produced by the Legatum Institute which is based in Dubai and has an agenda.
Very reliable.
And US has been at 10 for some years, dropped one place because Luxembourg was included for the first time. Dropped another place because of Ireland, that won;t last long with Ireland's woes.
Still one above UK
Is anybody surprised tiny countries like Norway with all their oil come top?
If they compared US with Europe, or looked at individual US states, it may look very different.
Look at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datab...ex-usa-economy