Britain comes 27th in the world's health league

Obesity is still a big problem in the UK

Britain beats Portugal and the US in best places to live, according to a new survey.

by Lucy Acton

9 April 2015 at 12:32

Video of the Day: Blasting News

Britain has been ranked the 27^th best country for health and well-being according to an international league table which looks at the range of living standards, put together by a Harvard Business School academic.

With one in four Brits being classed as obese, obesity levels were the main factor which pushed the UK down in the health rankings. On obesity alone, Britain was 111^th out of 133 countries.

Overall, Britain came 11^th in a league table of countries with the highest standards of wealth and health, just nipping the marker of being one of the best off countries in the world.

However Britain did come above Portugal (18^th) and the US (16^th), with Norway coming top.

This league table, named 'The social progress league table' is conducted every few years and is based on the ratings of medical care, nutrition, housing and energy standards, crime, education, health and fitness, as well as political rights and levels of tolerance in each country.

Religious tolerance and crime rates also pushed Britain under in the findings, which were recorded by US analysts in a 'social progress index' but the list also showed that the country does have a low murder rate. According to researchers, Britain is also first in the world for providing water and sanitation as well as electricity supply.

Britain, which was also recognised as having low levels of women marrying at a young age, was also complimented on its amount of globally recognised universities, like Oxford and Cambridge.

It might come as a shock, but results show that there are only four EU countries in the top ten, with Italy coming in at 31.

All in all, the results may appear positive for Britain but analysts from the project are concluding that fast economic recovery following the recession has actually done little for our country.

So what do you think?

Does Britain deserve it's title of '11th best place to live in the world' and are we sometimes just to hard on the country itself? After all, according to this league table, we are up with the fresh way of living that is seen in Europe.

Content sponsored by Outbrain