India bags the 103rd place in world's healthiest countries' list

According to a recent report, Singapore has topped the list of world's healthiest countries, while India has secured the 103rd position. The list ranks countries using data from the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation and the Bloomberg rankings gave each country with a population of 1 million or more a health score and a health-risk score, the Independent reported.

The health score is based on factors such as life expectancy from birth and causes of death, while health-risk is based on factors which could impede health such as the proportion of young people who smoke, the number of people with raised cholesterol and the number of immunisations. Singapore came top with an overall score of 89.45%, Italy ranked second healthiest with 89.07% and Australia came third with 88.33%.

The UK also failed to reach the top 20, ranking at number 21 with a score of 76.84% per cent, behind Belgium, Ireland and Norway. India ranked 103rd with an overall score of 22.17%, while Swaziland came last with 0.26%.

The data is a useful guide for policy makers, who might look at the practices of higher-scoring countries to improve their own countries' health scores, as per the World Economic Forum.

The word "healthy", however, is open to interpretation, the WEF stress, saying a ranking defining "healthy" by "quality of life" rather than "life expectancy" might include lower-income countries which report higher levels of life satisfaction.

The study also revealed a global rise in the consumption of healthy food, such as fruit and vegetables, but this was overtaken by a concerning increase in the amount of junk food being eaten.