Which country has the healthiest diet? Netherlands takes the number one spot – while the U.S. doesn’t even make the top 20

January 16, 2014

The Netherlands is the best place in the world to eat, according to new research.

In contrast, people in Chad are the worst off when it comes to their food consumption.

The UK only made number 13 in the survey while the U.S. came in at 21 on the table of the best countries to eat in terms of nutritional value and availability.

The new report compiled by Oxfam saw researchers look at the food consumption in 125 countries.

The researchers considered whether people have enough to eat, whether people can afford to eat, whether the food available is of good quality and the extent of diet related diseases.

The results showed that the Netherlands is the best place in the world to eat, followed by France and Switzerland.

The Netherlands took the top spot because it has comparatively low food prices, low diabetes levels and better nutritional diversity than its European rivals.

Also in the top 12 were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal.

However, these countries did not score well in all categories.

The Netherlands has high levels of obesity with almost one in five of its population with a body mass index of more than 30. The healthy level is 18 to 25.

Of the top rating countries, Australia has the highest obesity levels – 27 per cent of Australians are obese.

At the bottom of the table, Chad is shown to be the worst place to eat as the food is of little nutritional value, it is expensive and it prepared with limited access to hygienic conditions.

One in three children in Chad are also underweight.

Joining Chad at the bottom of the table are Ethiopia and Angola.

The rest of the bottom 10 are made up of sub-Saharan African countries and Yemen.

One in three children in Chad are also underweight.