Yay, Canada!

To determine their list of the healthiest places to live in the world, Forbes.com looked at the latest available health and environmental statistics for every nation, from sources such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the UN. Then they ranked only the 138 nations with statistics in every measure.

Iceland, Sweden and Finland won the top three spots thanks to their low pollution rates, high number of doctors and residents’ healthy lifestyle. "Historically, these countries had an ethic of having more of a nationalized health care system," says Kate Schecter, a program officer for the American International Health Alliance. "There’s this mentality that health care should be a given right for citizens."

Meanwhile, Canadians’ long life expectancy and low TB rates helped us earn a number-eight spot, above the U.S., Spain and France. Our low number of doctors per capita and relatively high infant mortality rate—five deaths per 1,000 live births—held us back from a higher ranking.

We measured similar criteria in our analysis of Canada’s healthiest cities.

So, what do you think about Canada’s spot in the world, at least in this measurement?

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