There’s more to life than money, and economists know it. As new assessments of global living standards proliferate, attempting to gauge how healthy, happy and successful humans are depending on where they live, a pattern is slowly emerging.
While slight variations in data can throw up different winners, smaller countries are increasingly dominating the top of the list while big nations with booming economies fall behind.
Metrics basket
A new analysis, the Global Wellness Index, published by investment firm LetterOne, ranks Canada as the best country out of the 151 nations evaluated. The US trails far behind, coming in at 37. In a tighter ranking of G-20 nations combined with the 20 most populous countries on the planet, South Africa comes in dead last, below Ukraine, Egypt and Iraq.
Based on a basket of metrics ranging from government healthcare spending to rates of depression, alcohol use, smoking, happiness and exercise, the new index is the latest attempt by economists to evaluate the world beyond economic growth.
A new thread in the survey is that the top ranks are increasingly filled with smaller countries. This may be tied to researchers developing new metrics for the modern world, measures that don’t necessarily correlate economic health with actual health let alone wellness sat the expense of other, more nuanced barometers.
High happiness levels
Davies dashboard ranks Canada highly due to its good scores for blood pressure, life expectancy and government healthcare spending, but it also pays close attention to the country’s high happiness levels.
The UK was ranked 15th, held back by high rates of obesity and inactivity.
Big countries such as Japan, Germany, France or Italy failed to make the new survey’s global top 25, with all four faring poorly for rates of high blood pressure. West Asian countries ranked relatively high due to good scores in the alcohol category.