Biden’s approval rating has risen with six days to go until Americans head to the polls, with key races tightening across the country. Democrats face losing control of Congress if Republicans perform strongly, with voters having a pessimistic view of the economy.

A common criticism of Biden’s presidency has been the large rise in inflation during his tenure, which he has sought to blame on external factors, such as Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden has also defended the U.S. inflation rate compared to other countries.

The Claim

In a speech made on November 1, 2022, Biden said: “We (the U.S.) have the lowest inflation rate of almost any major country in the world.”

Addressing Republican attacks on inflation, the president said: “But the point is that there—you know, that’s why it’s up.

“We have the lowest inflation rate of almost any major country in the world. We’ve done a lot to try to take it under control.

“I’ve released millions of barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, keeping the price down. It’s down about $1.25 and going down. It needs to go more.”

The Facts

This is a tricky claim to assess as “major country” is a nebulous term.

Some definitions are stricter than others– according to World Population Review, one might define it as the body that makes up the UN Security Council: the United States, The United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France.

Of course, this neglects many other wealthy nations such as Germany, Japan, France, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and South Korea, all of whom could be fairly defined as “major” by economies and/or size.

You could also choose to define “major” as based on either Gross Domestic Product or GDP per capita, which would include nations like Singapore, Qatar, Ireland, UAE, and Switzerland.

“Almost” moderates the claim even further and draws one further away from concrete or standardized definitions.

The president has used similarly loose guideposts before to fight back criticism of his record on the economy.

In June 2022, Politifact used member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a leading think tank among countries with developed economies, to try and assess a more concrete claim that in “every other major industrial country in the world … inflation is higher.”

Using that same framework, in September 2022, the U.S. rate of inflation was 8.2 percent. This was the same as Ireland and only bettered by Finland, Norway, Luxembourg, Canada, South Korea, France, Israel, and Switzerland.

However, non-OECD economies fared even better: Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa all had a lower rate than the U.S.

The G20 average inflation rate for September, per the OECD, was 9.5 percent.

The trouble is that, as mentioned before, Biden’s terms here can be interpreted several different ways and may seek only to measure the U.S. as a “major country” based on its own parameters.

It has kept its rate of inflation ahead of many other “major countries” but claims like these are so broad and devoid of cultural and economic context bound to each nation, one might argue that such a comparison is not particularly useful.

Others could easily argue that nations such as Qatar, UAE, or Singapore ought to be among this comparison; again such an unspecific claim gives the president a degree of plausible deniability no matter how one may argue it.

Biden has made the same claim before which Newsweek rated also “mostly false”. Newsweek gave the same rating to another claim the president made where he blamed “Putin’s price hike” for soaring U.S. inflation in May 2022.

Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.

The Ruling

Needs Context.

The president has made a claim here lacking the type of definitive terms and sources that make it both technically not incorrect but also somewhat empty.

Data shows that among OECD nations there are only a small number of other countries with a lower rate than the U.S. However, there are other countries that recorded lower CPI rate increases than the United States.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team