The United States gets criticized for being one of the fatter nations in the world. I've always wondered if that was true. Turns out its not. The United States it #9 in terms of the most obese nations from around the world.
Below is the list of the Top 20 most overweight countries in the world with the percentage of the population that's overweight.
Country % Overweight or obese
1. Nauru 94.5
2. Federated States of Micronesia 91.1
3. Cook Islands 90.9
4. Tonga 90.8
5. Niue 81.7
6. Samoa 80.4
7. Palau 78.4
8. Kuwait 74.2
9. United States 74.1
10. Kiribati 73.6
11. Dominica 71.0
12. Barbados 69.7
13. Argentina 69.4
14. Egypt 69.4
15. Malta 68.7
16. Greece 68.5
17. New Zealand 68.4
18. United Arab Emirates 68.3
19. Mexico 68.1
20. Trinidad and Tobago 67.9
On the other hand, the U.S. also ranks top 20 in the world in terms of healthiest nations in the world. Here's the list of the 15 Healthiest nations in the world.
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Finland
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Australia
- Denmark
- Canada
- Austria
- Netherlands
- United States
- Israel
- Czech Republic
- Spain
- France
I was surprised to see France at number 15 because I always hear about the great healthcare in France. The United States is going through a Healthcare crisis right now, with over 47 Million Americans without healthcare, but still manage to get on the top 15 list.
From both of these lists, are you surprised by any of the countries on the list? Are you surprised the United States made both lists below number 15?
Sources: World Health Organization, the World Bank and The UN
Comments (56)
And what does the study mean by "more healthy?" Are they counting average trips to the doctor? Cuz if you have universal healthcare, you'd be less hesitant to go for checkups and get preventative care as opposed to ignoring the pain because you're afraid of your own insurance company until it becomes untreatable like some americans do.
Interesting!
I'm supprised i didn't see any asian countries on there b/c I eat a lot of asian food and want to know where they stand.
I'm also suprised to see Mexico at #19 since I'm Hispanic and live so close to the border I also eat a lot of Mexican food too.
I would like to see something like this but for the United Sates only.
Over all very interesting =)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
We're 45th in the world based on life expectancy, well behind many other first world nations. What exactly are the criteria for healthiest?
@M3ssyJess@xanga - Japan is 3rd in the world for life expectancy. If you want to live a long time, live like the Japanese.
i was thinking about that also. U.S is a big country with a high population... to face the facts. whichever country is the most overweight or not. the percentage of obesity is still adding up around the world..