Belgium Is Healthiest Nation

Never mind their passion for heaps of steaming mussels, French fries soaked in mayonnaise, potent beers and to-die-for chocolates: Belgians are the healthiest people in the world, the London-based World Markets Research Center said Monday.

The business research group issued results of a world health survey showing Belgium topping a 175-nation health chart. Belgium is followed by Iceland, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Norway and Australia.

Sierra Leone was ranked last on the WMRC's Health of Nations survey that compared healthcare spending with what countries get back in terms of such indicators as life expectancy and mortality rates.

The United States - which spends more on healthcare that any other country - placed 17th.

WMRC Healthcare Research Manager Michelle Perkins said in a statement, "Belgium - a high-income country with a small population - has taken its health seriously for some time. Jean Claude van Damme may only have been ahead of the game when he called himself 'the Muscles from Brussels'!"

The study found Britain to suffer "from three decades of under-investment," adding that "continental levels of health and healthcare are unlikely to be reached until the end of this decade at the earliest."

High public spending on health care alone is meaningless, the study said.

"High-spending nations such as the United States and Germany have proved inefficient at translating expenditure into health success," it said.

While the United States "is the most technologically and pharmaceutically advanced country in the world, some 40 million of its population are without health insurance, have problems accessing healthcare and are leading increasingly sedentary lifestyles."

The study found the global average was a life expectancy "in the mid-to-high 60s" but that in many African states this is "now falling to below 30."

World Markets Research Center, founded in 1996, provides investment and sovereign risk ratings on 186 countries for businesses and governments.