DOHA: Qatar has been ranked as the healthiest country in the world by the 24/7 Wall St, a US-based corporation which runs a financial news and opinion company with content delivered over the Internet.
24/7 Wall St said it has reviewed a host of factors broadly categorised as health indicators, access measures, or the economy. Qatar led the countries reviewed with the highest overall score, while Sudan is the least healthy country with the lowest score.
Among the 10 healthiest countries in the world, Norway came second while Switzerland and Luxembourg have been placed in the third and fourth positions, respectively. Other countries in the top 10 are Japan (5th) Iceland (6th), Austria (7th), Singapore (8th), Sweden (9th) and Australia (10th).
“While Qatar topped 24/7 Wall St.’s health rankings, it was the only country of the 10 healthiest not to have a national health care (health insurance) system. As the emirate is transitioning to a universal system, however, the health of its population may become even better. Qatar plans to have its entire population covered by the end of this year,” it said.
With 7.7 physicians per 1,000 people, more than any other country, Qatar’s health system is already very good. Qatar fared very well in health, access, and economic measures, largely on the strength of its relatively low overall death rate of 1.4 deaths per 1,000 people and relatively low maternal mortality rate.
“As in several other prosperous and healthy nations, Qatar had the second-highest obesity rate in the world,” said the report.
Health indicators about Qatar in comparison to other countries have been given as: Life expectancy: 77.6 (28th highest), Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 7.0 (44th lowest), Health expenditure per capita: $2,029 (25th highest), Unemployment rate: 0.5 percent (second lowest). The Peninsula
