Cuba, The Fourth Healthiest Country In The Americas / 14ymedio

Hallway in the Pepe Portilla Pediatric Hospital in Pinar del Río. (Juan Carlos Fernandez)
Hallway in the Pepe Portilla Pediatric Hospital in Pinar del Río. (Juan Carlos Fernandez)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mexico, 3 November 2015 — Cuba is the third healthiest country in Latin America and the fourth in the entire continent, according to the list compiled by Bloomberg based on data from the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

The ranking, published on the website of the World Economic Forum , is made up of 145 countries. They are led by Singapore, Italy and Australia, and following those three, the top ten consist of adding the top ten, Switzerland, Japan, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany.

Within the Americas, both Canada, ranked 14, as well as the three most healthy nations of Latin America — Costa Rica (24), Chile (27) and Cuba (28) — are ahead of the United States, in place 33. Behind are Mexico (37), Panama (38), Ecuador (47), Argentina (48), Colombia (58) and Venezuela (61). At the end of the list is Bolivia (93), with Guatemala (83) and El Salvador (78) in second and third to last place.

The health score is based, first, in the mortality rate of each country and, secondly, on the various factors that can limit health, such as the proportion of young people who smoke or immunization levels.