SA last on happiness, health index

The Indigo Global Wellness Index, a new study published by investment firm LetterOne, has put South Africa last on a list of the healthiest and happiest countries.

A total of 151 countries were involved in the study. The index looks at 10 metrics in a bid to work out which countries in the world are the most – and least – healthy.

These were blood pressure, blood glucose, obesity, depression, happiness, alcohol use, tobacco use, exercise, healthy life expectancy and government spending on healthcare.

South Africa props up Ukraine, Egypt and Iraq at the bottom of the list.

Canada came first, followed by Oman, Iceland, Philippines, Maldives, Netherlands, Singapore, Laos, South Korea and Cambodia.

“The very poor scores for countries like South Africa – an economy lauded for its growth rate in the 2000s – shows that simply ranking an economy based on traditional economic metrics like GDP can miss important parts of the story,” wrote Richard Davies, the economist who compiled the list.

“A striking observation is the finding that while rich countries tend to lead the index, there are many emerging economies that are doing better than advanced nations,” Davies said.

The US was ranked at number 37, while powerful nations such as Japan, Germany, France, and Italy failed to make the top 25.

“This reflects the huge increases in life expectancy in these countries in recent years and the poor scores for depression and obesity that advanced countries like the United States receive,” the study says.

A trend that seems to indicate that smaller countries are healthier and happier was also evident.

Countries in the Middle East performed well largely due to their good alcohol use scores.