Being large and wealthy as a country does not necessarily contribute to having a happy and healthy population, a new study has shown. The Indigo Wellness Index, a global health ranking, has identified the healthiest and unhealthiest countries in 2019.
The index, compiled and led by Richard Davies at the economics consultancy Bloomsbury Economics, created a series of rankings based on 10 key measures: healthy life expectancy, blood pressure, blood glucose (diabetes risk), obesity, depression, happiness, alcohol use, tobacco use, inactivity (too little exercise), and government spending on healthcare.
The index, which covered 191 countries, then calculated a ratio to assess how close each country is to the best score overall — the worst score is zero, while the best score is one.
The Indigo Wellness Index considered findings of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Happiness Report, and public health data.
Canada came out on top as the healthiest country, according to the index that was published by the investment business LetterOne in the new journal Global Perspectives.
It said war-torn sub-Saharan African countries were some of the worst performers. Analysis by Business Insider showed that countries, especially those in the Caribbean that are considered “idyllic”, had poor rankings and this could be attributed to lack of exercise and poor diet.
Below are the least healthy countries in Africa and the Caribbean:
