Spain - healthiest in the world

The latest edition of the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, published every two years, ranked Spain as the world’s healthiest country, followed by Italy and Iceland. 

The Mediterranean diet attribute part of the positive health trend.

Furthermore the index also took into account smoking and obesity as well as the environment.

As a result researchers say eating habits may provide clues to health levels enjoyed by Spain and Italy, as a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts, had a lower rate of major cardiovascular events than those assigned to a reduced-fat diet.

Four other European countries made it into the top 10: Iceland (third), Switzerland (fifth), Sweden (sixth) and Norway (ninth). France was 12th, Britain 19th, Portugal 22nd, Germany 23rd and Belgium 28th. Japan, which ranks fourth globally, is the healthiest nation in Asia.

Spain has also the highest life expectancy at birth among European Union nations, and trails only couple of countries globally, United Nations data show. Spain by 2040 is forecast to have the longest lifespan, at almost 86 years, followed by Japan, Singapore and Switzerland, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health.