I flew in the US for 20 years (8 years military, 12 Major airline). The last couple years I made a jump to the "contract pilot" world. It has been a huge eye opener, and allowed me to see a lot of what is going on in the world of aviation, at least in regards to pilot training.
Flying in the US at a big airline, the average FO was hired when he was in his early 30's, whether he was civilian or military. Most of the civilians had 7 prior jobs, with 4-10,000 hours. My time as a Captain there was very easy, now that I look back on it. Maybe a couple of times a year I would give an airspeed call, but I never took the controls from another pilot. Ever. Not even close. 15 years ago even the regional airlines were able to hire experienced pilots. Not for much longer, and even a couple of years ago Mesa and several others were hiring 250 hour pilots.
Fast forward 2 years to Asia. Most Asian carriers either run cadet programs, or simply hire 250 hour pilots and put them in the right seat of a 37 or scarebus. 3 years later they are Captains, with 2200-3500 hours. A year later they are TRI/TRE's. The system we work in, and it is a system, can absorb a certain number of low time pilots. A lot perhaps, maybe 50%, and still maintain an adequate level of safety. Lufthansa, JAL, and a few others also run cadet programs and have excellent safety records. But when your entire airline is trained and staffed by low time pilots, the system no longer works. The safety records of these airlines speak for themselves.
Pilot training is expensive, and the payday at the end of the rainbow no longer attracts enough pilots. Also, most countries don't have enough feeder aviation to grow pilots. Aviation has gone from zilch to Boeing in most countries of the world.
I have had the opportunity this last 2 years to fly with pilots from all over the world, with various levels of experience. Even a lot of low time Euro and South American FO's, who went from 250 hours to A320's. I flew with them when they had 1500-3000 hours. They came from small carriers. Almost all of them were good pilots. At the same time, I also flew with FO's from Asia, Europe, South America, and North America with the same level of experience I flew with in the states. There is simply no comparison. More experience is better. They are like flying with another Captain next to me.
If you look at the individual accidents in the last 20 years or so, probably over 80% of accidents are by small airlines, mostly in less affluent countries, but also a lot in small airlines in rich countries. When to take into account they probably only make up 5 % of commercial aviation, the accident rate is horrendous. On the other side of it, most major airlines have a phenomenal safety record this past 20 years. Many have had only 1 bad accident, and that was usually a plane ending up off the runway, and the passengers were fine.
The last 6 fatal accidents in the US were with commuter airlines, and the pilots were on average far less experienced than their counterparts at the majors. Those 6 accidents were either 100% pilot error, or pilot error was a huge contributor after a minor malfunction. They are among the worst, and most preventable, accident reports I have ever read. It took these accidents for our government to step in.
ICAO actually is going the other way. They are pushing the "Multi crew pilot license". You think 250 hours is too little, how about 125? Plus 125 in a simulator. I believe it is already approved.
In 18 months at my last job, I took the controls from the other pilot 6 times, and I should have done so another 15 times at least.
Wikipedia is a great resource for aviation Safety. Type in the airline, and they will tell everything, including individual accidents, number of accidents, etc. Want to know if Airbus or Boeing is safer? Type in 777 or A330. Look at the number built, and the number crashed, including short reports of how and who crashed them. Phenomenal.
The US still has an adequate supply of pilots for the near future. They are one of the few countries on earth so lucky. We will run out eventually, and I hope the powers that be have a plan. If not, I think I will take the train when I retire.