Spain just surpassed Italy to become the healthiest country in the world. This is dictated by the Index published by Bloomberg each year on the healthiest countries.
The report for the year 2019 establishes a ranking of 169 economies according to factors that contribute to good health. Spain has gone from sixth place in 2017 to top the list , world class.
In addition, four other European nations are at the top of the list: Iceland (third place); Switzerland (fifth place) and Norway (ninth place). Japan , for its part, is the healthiest country on the Asian continent. Australia , with the seventh place; and Isreal, as the tenth, complete the top 10.
The index has evaluated each country based on variables, such as life expectancy, but has also penalized them for the prevalence in their population of certain risk factors for diseases, such as tobacco or obesity. The authors have also gone into considering environmental factors, such as access to clean water, and health care.
The European Observatory of Health Systems and Policies 2018 has assessed the case of Spain as follows: ” Primary care is essentially provided by public providers , specialized family doctors and nurses, who provide preventive services to children, women and children. the elderly, and acute and chronic care ”, a health care that is also supported by data, observing a decrease in the last decade in cardiovascular diseases and deaths from cancer.
In this decline, eating habits play a key role: ” The Mediterranean diet, supplemented with extra virgin olive oil or walnuts , implied a lower rate of cardiovascular accidents than those assigned to a reduced-fat diet”, according to the leader of a study directed by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Navarra.
Meanwhile, across the pond, Canada ranks 16th ; however, well above the United States, with a 35th place ; and Mexico, which is ranked 53rd . The US scores with a lower life expectancy due to deaths from drug overdoses and suicides.
Cuba , for its part, ranked five places above the United States, making it the only nation not classified as “high-income” by the World Bank to have such a high rating. One reason for the island nation’s success may be its emphasis on preventive care (over the US approach) in diagnosing and treating disease, as argued by the Health Law Section of the American Bar Association. in a report last year, after visiting Cuba.
Turning the focus back to Asia, South Korea ranks 17th , while China, home to a billion and a half people, ranked 52nd. Despite this modest ranking, life expectancy in China is on track to surpass that of the United States. More specifically, it will achieve this by 2040, according to the Institute for Health Measurement and Evaluation.
Finally, the sub-Saharan economies are 27 of the 30 most unhealthy nations in the ranking . The other three countries in the bottom ranks are Haiti, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Spain, a case of success
A few months ago, forecasts from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation of the University of Washington predicted that, by 2040, Spain will have the highest life expectancy, with almost 86 years, followed by Japan, Singapore and Switzerland. And just a few weeks ago, the Human Development Index (HDI) – which provides a diagnosis of the state of the world every year – placed Spain as the fifth best country to live in (nothing compared to the data provided by the current index ).
In addition, Spain shows the highest life expectancy of newborns of all the nations of the European Union, equaled only by Japan and Switzerland worldwide, according to United Nations data.
