A picture of women’s health around the world has been painted by new research ranking the best countries out of 167 nations.
The data, from Compare the Market, compared 14 women’s health statistics across 167 different countries to find those that perform the best across several categories.
At the top is South Korea, which ranks number one with a score of 8.5/10. The country had the lowest chance of premature death from a non-communicable disease (NCD) at 4 per cent, and the lowest number of women suffering from ill-weight and anemia (14.4 per 100,000). South Korea also had the second-highest average healthy life expectancy for women at 74.7 years.
Followed closely behind South Korea by only 0.01 points is Singapore, which scored 8.49/10. Singapore had the second-highest average healthy life expectancy for women at 74.7 years, the third-lowest chance of premature death from NCDs (7 per cent), and the third-lowest percentage of women with ill mental health (2.1 per cent of the total female population).
In third place, Japan scored a 7.86/10, with the island having the highest average life expectancy for women at 75.5 years. Japan also had the lowest number of women with ill mental health at 1.9 per cent.
Other top performing countries include China (fourth), Slovenia (fifth), Israel (sixth), Finland (seventh), Slovakia (eighth), Thailand (ninth) and Poland and Canada tied for tenth place with a score of 7.36/10.
Meanwhile, the United States came in at 30th and Australia placed 28th, with a score of 6.79/10.
Australia did well for women’s health in having a low chance of premature death from NCDs (7 per cent) as well as a low maternal death rate of two per 100,000 live births (the third-best in the world, tying with Denmark, Austria, Belarus and Japan). The country also had a high Universal Health Cover Index score of 87/100, the fourth-best score for this factor.
On the other end of the table, Australia didn’t do well regarding women’s mental health and women’s cancers. The nation had the fifth-highest percentage of women with ill mental health (4.6 per cent of all women), and the 17th highest per capita rate of women with female specific cancers (62.7 per 100,000).
Generally, the research found that women around the world continue to be misdiagnosed and have their symptoms go unreported in the datasets.
“We know from other research that women continue to get misdiagnosed or have their health concerns dismissed, and that this can affect their lives in numerous ways,” said Compare the Market’s Executive General Manager of Health, Steven Spicer.
“It’s important that nations across the globe continue to destigmatise and improve access for women’s healthcare so that they could have better health outcomes.”
“Our data shows that even small countries with GDPs that are dwarfed by larger nations can still do well in improving health outcomes for women, as evidenced by countries like Slovenia, Slovakia and Vietnam ranking in the top 20.”
“Improving women’s health isn’t an impossible pipe dream, it is a practically achievable obligation.”