Britain has been ranked beneath Italy, Germany and Australia in an international health index published today.
It came 27th out of 133 countries on overall health and wellbeing, with low results linked to national obesity.
Britain fared worst on measures of weight, ranking 111th with almost 35% of its population being obese. This compares to 15.6% in France, 17.2% in Italy and 21.3% in Germany.
However the Social Progress Index also praised Britain for standards of personal rights and education.
Michael Green, executive director of the Social Progress Imperitive – which is behind the index – told The Times that the UK was ‘let down by its disappointing score on “health and wellness” and like many rich countries the UK’s lowest score is on “ecosystem sustainability”’.
Norway was ranked highest on the international rankings followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand and Canada.
