Joshua Parfitt
VALENCIA again leads the rankings as the world’s healthiest city, according to a new report from Money.co.uk.
Valencia ranked number 1 out of 96 cities in a range of factors that include life expectancy, pollution, mental health support and levels of substance abuse.
Money.co.uk is one of the UK’s largest private companies and a leader in price comparisons.
An online report said that Valencia boasted the ‘best paella in the world’ as well glorious weather, low pollution and very good healthcare.
“The musical and cultural heritage of the city is rich, and residents there put a strong emphasis on social connection, leading to very healthy work-life balance,” wrote Money.co.uk’s senior editor James Andrews.
Valencia’s top spot was closely followed by Madrid, Canberra, Lisbon and Tokyo.
Researchers looked at 21 metrics to determine a city’s health ranking – 700 initial cities were whittled down to 96 as not all provided relevant data for each metric.
Though Spain had its three biggest cities (Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia) in the list’s top 20, the Spanish nation ranked around position 40-50 at a country level.
Japan took top spot as the healthiest country in the world to live in, followed by Switzerland, Cuba, Slovenia and Armenia.
Switzerland had the longest life expectancy at 84 years (Valencia has 83.5 life expectancy).
Norway had the most psychiatrists (48.04) per 100,000 people while Argentina had the most psychologists (222.6) per 100,000 people.
Turkey also got a mention as having the most nurses (150.25) per 100,000 people, as well as having free healthcare and a life expectancy of 82.
Helsinki was named as the city with the cleanest air – with Finland ranking as the world’s least polluted country – and Zurich in Switzerland recorded the lowest crime rate of any of the 96 cities studied.
The full range of indicators included: obesity, life expectancy, crime rates, pollution, health, safety, solar hours, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, psychologists, healthcare costs, percentage of population with access to healthcare, prevalence of mental health conditions and levels of substance abuse.
