Britain comes just 27th in the world’s health league
‘Disappointing score’
BRITAIN has been ranked only the 27th best country in the world for health and wellness in an international league table looking at a range of living standards.
Obesity levels were the main factor pushing the UK down the health rankings. With figures showing that almost one in four of the population is obese, Britain was 111th out of 133 countries on that specific measure.
Overall, the UK came 11th in the table of countries with the highest standards of prosperity, health and tolerance, putting us outside the top ten most civilised and bestoff people in the world.
Despite national earnings that make us the world’s fifth richest country, living standards are driven down by poor health and fitness, particularly obesity.
We also got low placings for lack of religious tolerance, crime rates that are only middling by world standards and for the speed at which we soak up water resources and destroy natural habitats.
The findings recorded by US analysts in a ‘social progress index’ suggest that the fast economic recovery from the recession has done little to ease longstanding problems that blight the lives of millions.
The analysts, led by a Harvard Business School academic, based their research on the idea that financial records do not tell the whole truth about a country.
The same thinking has driven David Cameron to order Whitehall to start collecting measurements of happiness and well-being. The social progress league table has been drawn up on the basis of ratings of essential medical care and everyday nutrition; on housing and energy standards; crime; education; health and fitness; political and conscience rights and freedoms, and levels of tolerance.
It broadly reflects the concerns of liberal and Left-wing thinkers – for example countries are marked up if girls do not marry young, if contraception is universally available, and for low greenhouse gas emissions, but there are no rankings that take into account factors such as family break-up or single parenthood. Index chief Michael Green said: ‘Overall, within Europe the UK’s ranking is middle of the road: it is more socially advanced than the US, Belgium, France, Ireland or Spain, but loses out to all the Nordic countries, Canada and Australia.
‘The UK is let down by its disappointing score on health and wellness, and like many rich countries the UK’s lowest score is on ecosystem sustainability.’ The table – which says Norway followed by Sweden and Switzerland are the best- off countries in the world – lists only four EU countries in the top ten. It says that Italy, at 31, is doing less well than Costa Rica, Chile or Uruguay. Israel is even further down the table, below Argentina and Mauritius.
Britain is first in the world, according to the researchers, for conquering hunger, providing water and sanitation, for electricity supply, a low murder rate, adult liter- acy, and freedom of speech and movement. It also wins top spot for the number of globally-recognised universities, for low levels of women marrying at young ages, and for numbers of mobile phone users.
However the UK is 32nd for its comparatively high rates of deaths from infectious disease, and 33rd for public concern about crime.
For freedom of religion Britain is 50th, and for religious tolerance 80th. There are also poor results for the proportion of water resources that are taken for human use, where we are placed at 82 in the world, and for destruction of wildlife habitat, where we are 53rd.
For Press freedom, the UK is ranked 27th.
Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School, who headed the research, said: ‘A striking finding is that gross domestic product is far from being the sole determinant of social progress.’