Healthiest Countries 2024

Individual’s health depends on a range of circumstances; however, people in developed nations, particularly those in the least developed countries, tend to be healthier on average.

The standard of living in developed nations is higher, with fewer pollution, better roads and utilities, and more access to health care, education, well-paying employment, wholesome food, and clean water. As expected, these nations are often ranked among the world’s happiest.

Despite this, many nations in poor health cannot use these similar advantages. Because of this, it’s difficult for locals to get good-paying employment, even when they do apply. A significant pollution level may result in health issues, sicknesses, and even death.

Even the necessities, such as clean water and well-maintained roads, may be in short supply. In these nations, the average life expectancy is lower, and infant mortality is greater. There is no doubt about it that these nations are in worse health.

Other health-related indicators, such as those discussed on this page and in the UN’s Human Development Index, show a similar tendency.

What does health mean to an entire country?

The concept of healthy immediately becomes apparent in several methods for rating national health. A broad-based assessment like the Bloomberg Global Health Index analyzes the health of a nation’s citizens in an all-encompassing way.

The Global Health Security Index, on the other hand, focuses only on a nation’s ability to battle illness and, as a result, ranks countries differently.

Both systems use health as a metric but define it differently. Furthermore, other systems may define health in economics, such as GDP, national security, or any other metric. If you want to compare one set of worldwide rankings with another, bear these in mind.

Bloomberg’s Global Health Index

The Bloomberg Global Health Index is one indicator developed expressly to assess a country’s health. This statistic considers a wide range of variables, among them:

1. Health risks (tobacco use, high blood pressure, obesity)
2. Availability of clean water
3. Average life expectancy
4. Malnutrition
5. Causes of death

Spain’s total score of 92.75 classified it as the world’s wealthiest nation, according to the 2019 rankings. With a total score of 75, the United States came in 35th place. In 2040, Spain’s life expectancy is anticipated to reach 85.8 years, making it the world’s longest-lived country.

Healthy fats and legumes, fruits, vegetables, and less red meat are all part of the Mediterranean diet in Spain.

With 37% of individuals choosing to walk to work rather than drive, Spain boasts Europe’s largest proportion of walkers (only 6 percent of Americans walk to work).

There have been 45.4 avoidable fatalities per 100,000 people in Spain since the implementation of universal healthcare, largely thanks to the country’s very effective program.

Bloomberg’s 2019 Global Health Index ranks the world’s 25 healthiest countries.

The Index of Health Care Safety Around the World

Compared to the Bloomberg index, the Global Health Security Index emphasizes a nation’s capacity to protect its inhabitants in the case of a pandemic or other catastrophic biological disaster.

For each nation, the index uses 37 factors to evaluate its performance and then ranks it on a scale of 1–100 in six basic categories:

1. Avoidance – Avoiding the appearance or spread of infections.
2. Ebola outbreaks with global implications should be identified and reported as soon as possible.
3. Rapid Reaction — Prompt action in the event of an outbreak and its subsequent containment
4. Treatment of the Sick & Protection of Health Workers — a well-functioning health care system
5. Observance of International Standards — Adherence to internationally recognized standards, Improvement of national capability, financial strategies to fill the gaps, and adherence to global standards are all important commitments.
6. Biosecurity Risk Environment — The overall risk environment and country’s susceptibility to biosecurity threats.

The country’s total Global Health Index (GHI) score is derived from these per-category values. GHI is used to determine the healthiest (and unhealthiest) countries worldwide by comparing it to other countries’ GHI.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant influence on the 2021 index. While several nations were able to respond to COVID-19, no one has taken the necessary measures to avoid future pandemics, according to the research.

The following are the world’s ten healthiest countries, according to the 2021 Global Health Security Index:

1. United States — 75.9
2. Australia — 71.1
3. Finland — 70.9
4. Canada — 69.8
5. Thailand — 68.2
6. Slovenia — 67.8
7. United Kingdom — 67.2
8. Germany — 65.5
9. South Korea — 65.4
10. Sweden — 64.9

The United States may not be the healthiest country in the world, but its huge ability to investigate, communicate, and react to a pandemic-level danger was enough to put it at the top of the list.

Indicators such as biosecurity, biosafety, epidemiology workforce, ability to test and approve novel countermeasures, communication with healthcare personnel, and many more placed the United States at the top of the list.

The Money Index

In 2021, the UK website Money published its list of the healthiest cities in the country. The Money index is based on six basic (but far-reaching) parameters, unlike some more sophisticated measurements.

1. Life expectancy
2. Cost of being healthy
3. Air pollution
4. Obesity rates
5. Safety
6. Sunlight hours

According to the Money UK Index 2021, the world’s healthiest countries.

The world’s healthiest and healthiest continents

Europe is the wealthiest continent on the planet, with European nations (especially those in Northern Europe) often appearing at the top of healthiest countries rankings.

The nations of Africa, however, tend to dominate the bottom rankings. As a result, Bloomberg’s 2019 list of the world’s least developed countries included 27 African countries.

Also See: Health Care Wait Times by Country 2022

African Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some of the poorest countries in the world, and this is partly due to this region’s proximity to the continent’s poorest countries.

Several of these nations are at war or in armed conflict, making it considerably more difficult to enhance public health to meet even the most necessities, such as clean water and proper health care.