Between pollution, beer consumption and cigarettes, Vietnam faces its fair share of challenges in the health department.
Still, it's fairly surprising to see where the country comes out in Bloomberg's recent ranking of the world's healthiest countries. The list, which ranks 145 countries based on overall national health as well as risk factors, puts Vietnam in the number 62 spot, according to Thanh Nien.
For the report, which combined data from the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, researchers created two separate measurements for each country: a health score and a risk score. Health scores took into account the life expectancy, infant mortality, death rate and causes of death for each nation, while risk scores factored in things like pollution levels, immunization rates, prevalence of smoking and drinking among youth, raised cholesterol and blood pressure. Once complete, researchers subtracted each nation's risk score from its health score to arrive at a final number.
Western Europe took most of the top spots, though Singapore was number one as usual. While Vietnam's health ranking wasn't stellar, it did manage to land among the top ten nations for the Asia Pacific region, beating out Laos (105), Cambodia (106) and even Thailand (77).
[Photo via Flickr user Kaj17]
