Healthiest Countries 2026

While a variety of factors contribute to the health of a country’s people, the residents of developed countries tend to be healthier overall than those of developing countries, and especially the least developed countries. Developed countries offer a higher quality of life, including lower pollution rates; better infrastructure such as roads and utilities; and greater access to quality health care, strong education, good jobs, nutritious food, and safe drinking water. These countries also often rank among the Happiest Countries in the World.

On the other hand, unhealthy countries often lack adequate access to these same benefits. Residents often lack the education required to land decent-paying jobs, which are often rare anyway. Pollution may be high, leading to health problems, illnesses, and death. Even fundamentals, such as clean water and proper roads, may be scarce. The life expectancy of the residents of these countries is often lower than average, while infant mortality is higher. This trend can be seen in the Health section of the United Nations’ Human Development Index, or in other health-focused metrics, including those explored on this page.

What “Health” Means to an Entire Country

In looking at the various systems for ranking national health, it quickly becomes clear that the definition of “healthy” varies from one source to the next. For example, the Bloomberg Global Health Index is a broadly-based measure that evaluates the personal health of a nation’s people in a general, all-encompassing sense. By comparison, the similarly named Global Health Security Index focuses tightly on a nation’s capacity to fight disease, and as such arrives at a completely different set of rankings. Both systems are measuring “health” but have their own unique interpretations of the term. Moreover, other systems may think of “health” in economic terms such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or in terms of national safety or some other qualification. It is important to keep these factors in mind when comparing one set of global rankings with another.

The Bloomberg Global Health Index

One metric specifically designed to measure national health is the Bloomberg Global Health Index. This metric examines many factors, including the following:

• Health risks (tobacco use, high blood pressure, obesity)
• Availability of clean water
• Average life expectancy
• Malnutrition
• Causes of death

The Global Health Security Index

In contrast to the Bloomberg index, the Global Health Security Index focuses tightly upon a nation’s ability to maintain the well-being of its citizens during a pandemic or other extreme biological event. The index evaluates each country by assessing its performance in 37 different indicators, which are then combined to give each country a score between 1-100 in each of six general categories:

1. Prevention — Prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens
2. Detection and Reporting — Early detection and reporting for epidemics of potential international concern
3. Rapid Response — Rapid response to and mitigation of the spread of an epidemic
4. Health System — Sufficient and robust health system to treat the sick and protect health workers
5. Compliance with International Norms — Compliance with international norms — Commitments to improving national capacity, financing plans to address gaps, and adhering to global norms
6. Risk Environment — Overall risk environment and country vulnerability to biological threats.

These per-category scores are then merged into a single value: the country’s overall Global Health Index (GHI) score. That GHI is compared to the GHI of other nations to rank the healthiest (and unhealthiest) countries in the world.

The Money Index

The UK website Money offers its own healthiest places to live rankings, based on six simple (but far-reaching) factors:

1. Life expectancy
2. Cost to be healthy
3. Air pollution
4. Obesity rates
5. Safety
6. Sunlight hours

Top 10 Healthiest Countries (Global Health Index 2025 vs. Legatum 2023)

Healthiest and Least Healthy Continents

Europe appears to be the healthiest continent on Earth. On the other hand, the countries of Africa typically dominate the lower spots. This is largely because Africa’s Sub-Saharan is home to several nations that are not only the poorest countries in Africa but also the poorest in the world. Many of these countries have trouble supplying even basic needs such as clean water and adequate health care, and several are at war or engaged in armed conflict, which further undermines national health.