The Netherlands pulled out a win against Slovakia to advance to the next round. But will they advance in our health knockdown?
While many seem to think that the Netherlands is one of the healthiest countries in the world, it actually ranks 10th on the Forbes List of the World’s Healthiest Countries. That’s just one step up from the 11th ranking United States!
So, why the low ranking? Well, the Netherlands is highly polluted, affecting everything from water to soil to air. Compare that to the more densely populated United States, whose air pollution tends to be pretty low!
And, if you live in the Netherlands, the life expectancy for men is only 70 and 73 for women. Men in the U.S. live five years longer and women 7 years longer!
While people in the Netherlands don’t have as high of an overweight rate (40% overweight as opposed to 66.7% in U.S.), it seems that the environment could be pushing down the health of the country.
What’s your take?
My husband is from Holland and I have a couple of ideas about this. Number one, lots and lots of people in Holland smoke cigarettes. On the other hand, however, most people not only own but actually use bicycles as a main source of transportation. Fast food is very expensive and isn’t nearly as readily available there as it is here. They eat lots of fresh food, and fresh fish. So, they certainly have some bad habits, but they’re more physically active than we are. The pollution I imagine is due to the fact they have 16 million people living in a country the size of western North Carolina! On the other hand, they are world class as far as recycling, composting and conservation of resources.
@Lisa, thanks for your insight! It’s nice to get input from someone who knows both sides of the coin