South Africa ranks 10th out of 50 countries around the world for unhealthy lifestyle habits, suggests a recent study by medical aid comparison website MedicalAid.com.
The website analyses the premiums and coverage offered by a wide variety of health insurance companies in South Africa.
The study looked at five bad habits that are detrimental to human health: excessive snacking that leads to obesity, avoiding exercise, alcohol consumption, smoking, and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) prevalence per 100 000 people.
Data for all of these factors – pulled mostly from the World Health Organisation (WHO) – were then combined into an overall “unhealthy lifestyle score” out of 10, which was used to rank the countries from those with the unhealthiest habits to those with the least.
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Topping the list of countries with the unhealthiest habits was Bulgaria, which also recorded the highest smoking rate, followed by Latvia, which recorded the highest annual alcohol consumption and Argentina in third place.
The United States came in at number four, with Lithuania, Croatia and Hungary hot on its heels with unhealthy habits. Estonia was eighth followed by Germany at nine and South Africa in the tenth slot with a 6.14 unhealthy lifestyle score.
According to the study, 38% of South Africans are physically inactive, with an obesity rate of 28.3%.
The countries with the most unhealthy habits.
MedicalAid.com
South Africa also recorded the highest rate of STD prevalence, with 37 273 infections per 100 000, which is 294% higher than Israel, where the lowest rate of 9 455 cases per 100 000 people was recorded.
The study warned that engaging in unprotected sexual activity can be risky, especially if you are not in a committed monogamous relationship.
“Having unprotected sex with multiple partners exponentially increases the risk of contracting an STD, which can be unpleasant for those infected and can have lasting health implications,” the study’s researchers said.
The WHO says more than a million people are infected with STDs every day, which profoundly impacts sexual and reproductive health worldwide.
The organisation estimates that there were 374 million new infections in 2020, with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and trichomoniasis being the leading four STDs.
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”When comparing countries, we used data from the WHO, which showed rates of tobacco smoking, obesity and physical inactivity across different countries,” the researchers said without specifying the time period and year.
They also used data from the World Factbook (a comprehensive reference resource of country data and statistics produced by the Central Intelligence Agency) for the rate of alcohol consumption per capita, as well as Wisevoter (a bipartisan public service platform) for data on the prevalence of the five common STDs in each country.
Discovered on: 2023-06-12 05:39:48
Source: These are the 50 countries with the worst health habits – SA takes 10th spo…
