US President Barack Obama has exhorted his countrymen to buckle up as the Indians and Chinese are catching them fast, as Americans have now settled into mediocrity.

"Our kids are falling behind when it comes to science. We have kind of settled into mediocrity when we compare ourselves to other advanced countries and wealthy countries," Obama said in a town hall speech on health care in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

"That's a problem because the reason that America over the last 100 years has consistently been the wealthiest nation is because we've also been the most educated nation," he said.

"It used to be by a pretty sizable factor we had the highest high school graduation rates, we had the highest college graduation rates, we had the highest number of PhDs, the highest number of engineers and scientists," Obama said.

The President said though the Americans used to be "head and shoulders above" the people of other countries, especially in the field of education, they were fast loosing that position.

"So even with the good schools, we have got to pick up the pace, because the world has gotten competitive. The Chinese, the Indians, they are coming at us and they're coming at us hard, and they're hungry, and they're really buckling down," Obama said.