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Wednesday, February 27th, 2019

These Are the World’s Healthiest Nations

Author:     Lee J Miller and Wei Lu
Source:     Bloomberg
Publication Date:     February 24, 2019, 6:00 AM PST
 Link: These Are the World’s Healthiest Nations
Stephan:   Healthcare, education, life expectancy, maternal mortality, infant mortality, obesity, incarceration, and on and on. By any one of a hundred social outcome measures, the facts show something is deeply awry in the United States. Yet, as an overall trend, this is getting almost no public attention.

Maybe it’s something in the gazpacho or paella, as Spain just surpassed Italy to become the world’s healthiest country.

That’s according to the 2019 edition of the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, which ranks 169 economies according to factors that contribute to overall health. Spain placed sixth in the previous gauge, published in 2017.

Four additional European nations were among the top 10 in 2019: Iceland (third place), Switzerland (fifth), Sweden (sixth) and Norway (ninth). Japan was the healthiest Asian nation, jumping three places from the 2017 survey into fourth and replacing Singapore, which dropped to eighth. Australia and Israel rounded out the top 10 at seventh and 10th place.

The index grades nations based on variables including life expectancy while imposing penalties on risks such as tobacco use and obesity. It also takes into consideration environmental factors including access to clean water and sanitation.

Spain has the highest life expectancy at birth among European Union nations, and trails only Japan and Switzerland globally, United Nations data show. Spain by 2040 is […]

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