New Study names Spain 7th Healthiest Nation in the World

New Study names Spain 7th Healthiest Nation in the World

Its confirmed the Costa del Sol is one of the healthiest

places to live in the world.

Everyone knows how healthy the Spanish diet is. Spain also has a great healthcare system and is generally regarded as a very safe country with an excellent low cost of living. Even so there are a lot of reasons that one might end up unhealthy in Spain so you might be surprised to think that Spain is somewhere one could lead a healthy and clean lifestyle.

There are so many bars, clubs, and restaurants in the country that you’d be surprised to learn Spain now has the certification to prove that it is one of the healthiest nations in the world. Not only are Spaniards living long and healthy lives – partly caused by all the fruit, veg and fish in the Mediterranean diet – but they are also some of the most active and disease-free people in the world.

The results came in on a recent worldwide project called the Global Burden of Disease (GBD). They were published last week in The Lancet and it looks like the research shows Spain is the seventh healthiest country in the world.

The study looked at a wide number of factors such as lifestyle choices and measurable metrics including infant and maternal mortality, how well a country manages the spread of diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, the amount of road crash deaths, and how many people die as a result of substance and alcohol abuse.

When these parameters were assessed the study would then give each nation a percentage score. Spain was able to earn a score of 82% which put them on par with the Netherlands, Finland, and the UK. Spanish next-door neighbour Andorra came in just ahead with 83% and a score of 85% went to Iceland, Sweden and Singapore.

The other two nations that made up the top-ten were Canada and Australia who both came in at 81%.

Living in Spain came in quite well thanks to its healthcare system, low heart disease and infant mortality rates and the overall diet of Spain. There were other metrics that let Spain down including their record on alcohol abuse and suicide and they received an urgent call to improve their efforts to cut down on smoking. In terms of quitting smoking Spain scored one of the lowest scores in the West at 33%.

Most of the bottom spots were taken up, unsurprisingly, by the nations in sub-Saharan Africa. They were mostly let down due to the lack of healthcare, high levels of preventable diseases, contaminated water, air pollution and high levels of infant and maternal mortality.