The Human Truth Foundation

The United Kingdom Suffers as a Result of Poor National Health

https://www.humantruth.info/uk_health.html

By Vexen Crabtree 2020

#alcoholism #binge_drinking #british_culture #drinking #france #health #italy #obesity #pub_culture #trash_culture #UK #UK_health

The UK's National Security Risk Assessment output classes the state of the UK public health as a Tier 1 national risk, the most potent of the three categories1. The UK does relatively well in encouraging good health, compared to many other countries. The UK comes in the best 20 in terms of its food aid and health contributions and WHO compliance2. It does better than average when it comes to its average life expectancy3, its suicide rate4, its adolescent birth rate5 (but bad for Europe), its fertility rate6 and in its immunizations take-up7. But, there's bad news too. The UK does worse than average in terms of its smoking rate8 (yet still amongst the lowest in Europe), the prevalence of overweight adults9 and in its alcohol consumption rate10. The prevalence of overweight adults has increased by 14% between 1976 and 2016. Discussing health problems is popular - half of all science stories in the UK media are medical11, although, many of the claims made are dubious11 and easily misinform. There are about 150 000 alternative therapists in Britain and the public spend about £4.5 billion on them (as of 2009)12.


1. UK's Health

#health

Compared to Europe (2025)13
Pos.Lower is better
Avg Rank13
1Monaco14.3
2Liechtenstein30.1
3Isle of Man32.1
...
20Montenegro66.5
21Slovenia67.5
22Ireland68.0
23UK68.4
24Spain70.8
25Portugal72.3
26Cyprus72.8
27Germany75.0
28Albania76.5
Europe Avg86.87
q=51.
Health (2025)13
Pos.Lower is better
Avg Rank13
1Monaco14.3
2Liechtenstein30.1
3Isle of Man32.1
...
35St Martin66.7
36Slovenia67.5
37Ireland68.0
38UK68.4
39New Zealand69.9
40Thailand70.8
41Spain70.8
42Brunei71.2
World Avg97.60
q=213.

The countries with the best overall approach to public health, in terms of both public policy and individual lifestyle choices, are Monaco, Liechtenstein and The Isle of Man14. These countries are worth emulating. And, although often through no fault of the average citizen, the worst countries are The Cook Islands, The Marshall Islands and Niue14.

25 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on its average life expectancy, its alcohol consumption rate, its fertility rate, its smoking rate, its suicide rate, its food aid and health contributions and WHO compliance, the prevalence of overweight adults, obesity rate, its adolescent birth rate and its immunizations take-up. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Europe and The Balkans14, whereas the worst are Micronesia, Africa and Australasia14.

For more, see:

2. Adult Health Datasets

2.1. Life Expectancy

#demographics #health #hong_kong #immigration #japan #life_expectancy #longevity #population

Life Expectancy
Higher is better
3
Pos.2021
Years3
1Monaco85.9
2Hong Kong85.5
3Japan84.8
...
26Cyprus81.2
27Portugal81.0
28San Marino80.9
29UK80.7
30Slovenia80.7
31Germany80.6
32Andorra80.4
33Greece80.1
Europe Avg78.36
World Avg71.28
q=195.
In terms of its average life expectancy, the UK ranks 29th in the world.

Increasing longevity, and subsequent aging, is a long-term trend around the world15. Global life expectancy has risen above the 70s, reaching 72, by 201616, as part of a global trend towards better health16,17, and due to huge portions of the world being gradually lifted out of poverty. It also reflects overall improvements to cultural health, including diet, health services systems, attitudes to exercise and well-being, and also family structure and caring. For decades, Japan was well-known for having the highest average life expectancy18, until the top spot was taken by Hong Kong. The regions with the best life expectancy are Europe (78.4), The Middle East (75.2) and Asia (73.2)3 and the worst, by some way, is Africa (62.8)3.

One effect of rising longevity is the 'demographics crisis'; where an increasing portion of the population is old and retired, putting pressure on services and taxes19. The solution is for aging countries to import younger workers from elsewhere; over time, as birth rates stabilize, geriatric care improves the length of the working life, and population growth calms, this situation will stabilize.

For more, see:

Life expectancy in the UK improved by +6yrs in the 30 years from 1990, less than the global average of +7.9yrs.

Averages by decade for the UK (for the ranks, lower is better):

Life Expectancy1990s 
Average
2000s 
Average
2010s 
Average
the UK:76.678.981.0
World Rank:24th ⇣  25th ⇣  26th
World Avg:65.368.271.4

2.2. Alcohol Consumption

#alcohol #health #sociology

Alcohol Consumption
Lower is better
10
Pos.2016
Per Capita10
1Bangladesh0.0
2Kuwait0.0
3Libya0.0
...
164=Andorra11.3
164=Equatorial Guinea11.3
166Hungary11.4
167=UK11.5
167=Gabon11.5
167=Slovakia11.5
167=Switzerland11.5
171Austria11.6
Europe Avg10.3
World Avg6.2
q=189.
The UK ranks 168th in the world regarding its alcohol consumption rate.

There is nothing wrong with drinking modest and sensible amounts of alcohol but fitness, physical health, mental health and long-term health all suffer as a result of medium- or heavy- drinking20 and the health risks to the baby when pregnant mothers drink21 are well-known. Aside from the effects on the individual, alcohol misuse impacts on entire economies22 via increased health service costs, policing costs and lost days' work. Worldwide, alcohol misuse is "among the top five risk factors for disease, disability and death" and is a "cause of more than 200 disease and injury conditions in individuals, most notably alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis, cancers and injuries"23. "In 2012... 5.9% of all global deaths, were attributable to alcohol consumption"24. Deaths from chronic alcohol misuse have been rising for decades, and so has violence, abuse, vandalism and crime all associated with alcohol over-use. The aggression and crime associated with alcohol in some Western countries infringes on the human rights of those who want nothing to do with such behaviour. Many of the social effects of alcohol are psychological and cultural; i.e., people don't have to behave criminally or destructively whilst drunk - it is a culturally learned behaviour. Experiments have shown that behaviour can be controlled: Those who do not wish to behave badly whilst drunk, will not do so.

For more, see:

The UK has seen a 50-year growth in alcohol consumption and it has become a public-health crisis25. In 2007-8 it directly cost the NHS £3 billion25, and overall the national cost is up to £55 billion a year25,26. Across 2007-8, the UK had up to 40,000 alcohol-related deaths, including 350 from acute alcohol poisoning and 8,000 from cirrhosis of the liver25. Consumption has doubled since the late 1950s, whilst in other developed countries such as France and Italy, it has more than halved27; liver disease rates are falling in the EU, but the UK's rises28. The price of alcohol is half what it was in the 1970s27. Between 1995 and 2001, binge drinking increased by 35% in the UK27 . The increase in drinking "is reflected in rising death rates from chronic liver disease, the primary cause of which is too much drink", and the UK has some of Europe's worst rates of childhood drunkenness and several thousands of babies are born each year with foetal alcohol syndrome25, which has lifelong effects.

2.3. Fertility Rate

#birth_control #demographics #fertility #health #overpopulation #population #yemen

Fertility Rate
2.0 is best
6
Pos.20226
1US Virgin Islands2.00
2Ecuador2.00
3Nepal2.01
...
72St Martin2.39
73Isle of Man1.57
74=Slovakia1.57
74=UK1.57
76Paraguay2.44
77Laos2.45
78=Denmark1.55
78=Slovenia1.55
Europe Avg1.53
World Avg2.47
q=208.
With respect to its fertility rate, the UK is positioned 74th in the world.

The fertility rate is, in simple terms, the average amount of children that each woman has. The higher the figure, the quicker the population will grow, although, to calculate the rate you also need to take into account morbidity - the rate at which people die. If people live healthy and long lives and morbidity is low, then, 2.0 approximates to the replacement rate (two new children for each set of parents who die), which would keep the population stable. If all countries had such a fertility rate, population growth would end. The actual replacement rate in most developed countries is around 2.1. The highest fertility rate ever detected in a single year was in Yemen in 1985, at 8.86.29

For more, see:

The UK's peak fertility rate was 2.93 in 1964.

Averages by decade for the UK (for the ranks, lower is better):

Fertility Rate1960s 
Average
1970s 
Average
1980s 
Average
1990s 
Average
2000s 
Average
2010s 
Average
the UK:2.761.991.801.751.761.80
World Rank:30th ⇡  1st ⇣  26th ⇣  29th ⇣  42nd ⇡  39th
World Avg:5.354.784.223.573.032.73

2.4. Smoking Rates

#cancer #democracy #health #smoking

Smoking is the UK's biggest cause of preventable death and 100,000 people die from related diseases every year30. The health of the nation affects everyone in the long-run31 - although in 2016/17 tax on cigarettes earned the government £7.6 billion32, in 2010 statistics showed the total cost to the economy of smoking (including NHS costs) was £13.7 billion33. 474,000 hospital admissions every year in England are directly due to smoking32.

But things are moving in the right direction. Since the 1970s, the government has enacted a stream of laws to improve public health: strong restrictions on advertising cigarettes, enforced health warnings on packs, increased costs, banned sports sponsorships and banned smoking in public enclosed spaces.32,34,35. Each of those measures was fought through long legal and PR campaigns by the tobacco industry34,35. But it is working, and smoking rates in Great Britain have declined from 50% in 1974 to 16% in 2016, and the spectre of childhood smoking has declined to 3%.32,36

Smoking Rates
Lower is better
8
Pos.20148
1Guinea 15
2Solomon Islands 26
3Kiribati 28
...
107UAE 715
108Namibia 740
109Papua New Guinea 826
110UK 827
111Sweden 831
112Laos 836
113Iran 869
114Thailand 895
Europe Avg1 648
World Avg 819
q=182.
With respect to its smoking rate, the UK is positioned 110th in the world (yet still one of the lowest in Europe).

Cigarettes are the most lethal consumer product on the planet and is the biggest preventable course of disease in the world34. A billion people smoke37. The fight for public health means limiting and reducing the business of the tobacco industry and as the governments of most developed countries make headway, the tobacco industry has resisted with misinformation, public-relations campaigns and fake customer-concern lobby groups, trying to make the government think that the citizens do not support its actions. With £30 billion pounds (UKP) profit per year34, the industry runs such massive and influential lobbies that most governments find it difficult to make any progress in curbing rates of smoking.

If you smoke, you are more likely to drink. If you smoke or drink, you are also more likely to do drugs. Smoking is statistically intertwined deeply with trash culture. Only 15% of men in the highest professional classes smoke, but 42% of unskilled workers do38. Smoking is higher amongst those who are already in trouble: single mothers smoke at 55%, most homeless do and practically 100% of drug addicts do38. Smoking during late pregnancy reduces the IQ of babies by an average of 6.2 points39 and causes increased antisocial behaviour. Aside from the financial cost to taxpayers and the health costs to individuals, indirect negative economic effects result from increased rates of disease and sick days lost from work.

For more, see:

2.5. Suicide Rate

#belgium #finland #health #japan #mental_health #suicide #switzerland

Suicide Rate4
Pos.2013
Per 100k4
1Haiti0
2Grenada0
3Egypt0.1
...
36Italy12.8
37Macedonia13.5
38Mauritius13.7
39UK13.9
40Ecuador14.1
41Spain15.3
42Argentina15.6
43Thailand15.8
Europe Avg26.99
World Avg20.93
q=91.
The UK is 40th in the world with regard to its suicide rate.

Suicide as a human behaviour is recorded in the texts of the most ancient civilisations. But reliable statistics on it are hard to collect. The World Health Organisation publishes the statistics used by the United Nations, which is duplicated in the long table on the right.

Almost universally, successful male suicide rates are much higher than female rates. However, female suicide attempts are more frequent than male attempts.

Countries with high suicide rates are a mixture between those riddled with organized criminal gangs, under-developed countries, and, highly developed countries. There are cultural and situational effects at work that persist in the long-term: nothing seems to lower the high suicide rates in Japan, Belgium and Finland. And some of the countries with the lowest rates are not particularly well developed socially. It seems there is no correlation between suicide rates and things like development, prosperity and national engagement in human rights.

Switzerland comes in as the country with the 17th highest suicide rate despite its liberal stance, with 36.2 suicides per 100,000 people.

For more, see:

2.6. Food Aid, Health Contributions & WHO Compliance

Food Aid, Health Contributions & WHO Compliance
Lower is better
2
Pos.2017
Rank2
1Sweden1
2Ireland2
3Denmark3
4UK4
5Norway5
6Switzerland6
7Germany7
8Canada8
9Netherlands9
10USA10
11Luxembourg11
12Finland12
Europe Avg47.4
World Avg82.0
q=163.
The UK comes 4th-best in the world in terms of its food aid and health contributions and WHO compliance.

2.7. Overweight Adults

#health #obesity

Overweight Adults
Lower is better
9
Pos.1976
%9
1Bangladesh4.7
2Vietnam5.1
3Nepal5.4
...
152=Argentina40.4
152=Chile40.4
154Uruguay40.5
155=UK40.6
155=Iceland40.6
155=Canada40.6
158Poland40.8
159Jordan41.0
Europe Avg38.2
World Avg27.1
q=191.
Regarding the prevalence of overweight adults, the UK is 155th in the world.

Over 2 in 3 adults in the UK are overweight40. It has widespread knock-on effects for the rest of the UK, resulting in lost-hours of work, developed disabilities and social care costs. A UK government Commons Health Select Committee report in late 2015 stated that obesity costs the UK economy £27 billion every year41 and the total costs to Britain were widely reported in 2014 to be £47 billion43,44 - more than war, violence and terrorism combined43,44. It costs the National Health Service £5.1 billion per year53. Childhood obesity presents the greatest long-term risk (and cost) and parents must do more to instigate sensible eating practices54. In early 2016, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that UK rates of childhood obesity constituted a national emergency55.

Source: BBC (2007)56

The issue has been a long-term development; the chart shows rates rising between 1996-2005 in England.

2.8. Adult Obesity

#genetics #health #obesity #physical_fitness #public_health

Adult Obesity
Lower is better
42
Pos.2022
%42
1Vietnam2.1%
2Timor-Leste (E. Timor)2.2%
3Ethiopia2.4%
...
123Tunisia28.3%
124Uzbekistan28.5%
125Honduras28.5%
126UK28.7%
127Brazil28.8%
128Suriname29.0%
129Dominican Rep.29.1%
130Trinidad & Tobago29.2%
Europe Avg25.9%
World Avg24.7%
q=199.
When it comes to obesity rate, the UK comes 126th in the world.

About one third of the global population is overweight or obese43. It's more serious than simply being overweight and causes a range of systemic health conditions including the development of Type 2 diabetes45,46, muscle and bone degradation including osteoarthritis45, cardiovascular disease (i.e. heart disease)45, substantial disability45, cancers (endometrial, breast and colon)45, the acceleration of the ageing process47 and decreased life expectancy45,47. Health systems have to routinely cope with resultant complications, and cultural changes are having to be made48, impacting on transport, resources and workplaces, with measurable effects on national economies, diverting time and resources away from other issues. In 2000, it was the world's most costly epidemic48, and has continued to get worse in every region of the world every decade since49.

The causes are lifestyle and culture50,45, not genetics51,52. Causes are processed foods, low levels of physical exercise, over-indulgence, poor choices in food products and poor knowledge of nutrition. Health experts have warned that there is no medical solution: prevention is the only possible route to reduce the cost of obesity53 but the situation is made much worse by well-funded advertising campaigns by food manufacturers selling cheap mass-produced food. Even many so-called "health foods" contain well over recommended limits of fat, salt and sugar57 and a range of popular fad diets capitalize on miseducated consumers to buy into costly and nonsensical schemes that falsely promise quick results58.

For more, see:

Averages by decade for the UK (for the ranks, lower is better):

Adult Obesity1990s 
Average
2000s 
Average
2010s 
Average
the UK:15.8%23.0%26.8%
World Rank:140th ⇣  158th ⇡  143rd
World Avg:12.5%16.7%21.0%

3. Children's Health Datasets

3.1. Adolescent Birth Rate

#health #parenting #population

Adolescent Birth Rate
Lower is better
5
Pos.2022
Per 10005
1Hong Kong1.6
2Denmark1.8
3S. Korea2.1
...
46Oman9.7
47Lithuania9.7
48Montenegro9.7
49UK10.0
50Latvia10.5
51China11.1
52Belarus11.2
53Malta11.5
Europe Avg11.4
World Avg43.8
q=195.
The UK is positioned 49th in the world regarding its adolescent birth rate.

Averages by decade for the UK (for the ranks, lower is better):

Adolescent Birth Rate1990s 
Average
2000s 
Average
2010s 
Average
the UK:30.926.616.5
World Rank:49th ⇣  66th ⇡  53rd
World Avg:71.059.451.4

3.2. Infant Immunizations 2011-2015

#health #vaccines

Infant Immunizations 2011-2015
Higher is better
7
Pos.2015
Avg %7
1=Hungary99.0
1=China99.0
3Uzbekistan98.9
...
72Tuvalu94.9
73Eritrea94.7
74Singapore94.6
75UK94.6
76Solomon Islands94.5
77Norway94.3
78Bolivia94.2
79=UAE94.0
Europe Avg92.7
World Avg88.3
q=194.
The UK is positioned 75th in the world with regard to its immunizations take-up.