Feeling something for the puppy and understanding how the puppy feels are two entirely different things. If I've ever felt desperate before, I know how the puppy is feeling. If the puppy is drowning and unable to save itself, it's pretty fucking easy to see that, yep, it would probably be feeling pretty desperate. Asking me to feel something FOR the puppy itself is an extra step empathy itself doesn't necessitate by definition.
One more time. I can know how a homeless man feels without feeling the slightest bit of sympathy or compassion. Empathy is strictly the ability to place yourself in someone else's shoes to understand why and what they're feeling. Not feeling anything as a result of knowing those two things.
Metrics only tell part of the story, and methinks your metrics include dumb stuff like "per capita" that I'm not concerned with. A country isn't measured by the state of its weakest link to me, it's measured by it's strongest. I wouldn't care if the population of the US had an average 100 meter dash time faster than the rest of the world's average populations. BUT I definitely take pride if the US has the single fastest human alive.The USA isn't doing "fine" by a whole wide range of metrics. Including health care.