Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Korea 9th healthiest country in the world: report
Korea is the world's ninth-healthiest country, according to a new Global Wellness Index. gettyimagesbank
By Jung Min-ho
By Jung Min-ho
Korea has been ranked among the world's top 10 healthiest countries, according to a recent analysis.
The Global Wellness Index, published on March 4 by investment firm LetterOne, ranks Korea as the ninth best country out of 151.
The index focuses on 10 key metrics ― blood pressure, blood glucose, obesity, depression, happiness, alcohol use, tobacco use, exercise, life expectancy and government spending on healthcare ― to evaluate a country's health level.
Canada topped the list thanks to its good scores for life expectancy, government healthcare spending and blood pressure, followed by Oman, Iceland and the Philippines.
Big countries, including Japan, Germany, France and Italy, failed to make the top 25, with all faring poorly for high blood pressure scores. Middle Eastern countries ranked relatively high due to good scores in the alcohol category. The United States was hampered by obesity, depression and inactivity.
The top 10 countries are:
Canada
Oman
Iceland
Philippines
Maldives
Netherlands
Singapore
Laos
South Korea
Cambodia