Western Europe is the healthiest region in the world, new rankings of health systems show. But the survey, which places the US and UK relatively low, suggests that spending a lot of money is not enough to guarantee high standards of health.

The survey of the health status of people in 175 countries, released on Monday, ranked nine Western European countries in its top 10, with Belgium heading the list followed by Iceland, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Italy and Norway.

Australia is the highest placed non-Western European country in the list, in joint tenth place with Germany and Denmark. The United States was ranked 17th, just behind Israel, while the UK came in 23rd place, after Greece.

The index measured the health status of individuals by looking at the amount each country spent on its people's health and at health indicators including life expectancy, infant immunization rates and death rates of mothers and babies. It was developed by World Markets Research Center, a company that analyses businesses.

But devoting a large proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) to healthcare does not guarantee a nation's health, according to the researchers.

"The main reason for this is that they tend to adopt a 'we can buy the cure' attitude, as opposed to concentrating on preventing the ailment in the first instance. The prime example of this is the US, where the vast amounts of cash injected into the latest drug developments and pharmaceutical technology fail to be reflected in the overall health of the nation.

The US spends 13.1% of its GDP -- or $4,180 annually per capita -- on health, compared to Belgium's 8.9% ($2,172), the figures show. The UK's National Health Service spends 7% of GDP, or $1,532 per capita, on health.

Reuters London March 25, 2002