Mental health concerns remain among the most prominent problems across many populations worldwide (Lora, Hanna, & Chisholm, 2017). For example, veteran populations face very high levels of stress and anxiety disorders, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, contributing to heightened suicide rates, unemployment rates, and homelessness (World Health Organization, 2015). While mental health is studied more extensively and better treated in developed countries, developing countries face their own mental health challenges, especially in separating expressions of cultural and religious claims from mental health claims. As mental health care across the world continues to improve (Yearwood & Siantz, 2010), several countries will emerge as ahead of the curve on mental health. Therefore, ranking the world’s best mental health can be useful for the identification of mental health care models, for both underperforming developed countries and developing countries who may be in position to soon build mental health care structures and organizations from the ground up. Explored in this paper is a preliminary ranking of the world’s best mental health. This is not an exhaustive list, but focuses on what those countries with the best mental health are doing.
While mental health care may seem like the natural starting point for the current analysis, mental health outcomes are most dependent on several factors that have little to do with mental health care. For example, major trauma, sleep, a family history of mental illness, physical illness, pollutants, and socioeconomic status each have significant impacts on the development of mental illness (Perspectives in Public Health, 2015). Because countries vary drastically on these factors, the development of mental illness differs drastically. It is also worth mentioning that a number of these factors have impacts on one another, some positive and some negative. For example, industrialization decreases the number of individuals within a country who are considered in a low socioeconomic class. Yet, industrialization also increases environmental pollution. Thus, there tends to be an inverse relationship between economic development and pollution, having a complex net effect on mental illness.
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A lack of poverty, sleep, and the development of a country’s infrastructure are all interrelated components of preventing mental illness and maintaining good mental health (Legatum Institute, 2016). These factors are each closely related between countries. For example, Luxembourg is the world’s wealthiest nation, having virtually no poverty, which severely reduces the development of mental illness (Legatum Institute, 2016). Moreover, Luxembourg is among the leaders in average hours of sleep per night, as well as has the strongest and most expensive infrastructure per capita. As expected, Luxembourg has rated as having the best mental health, particularly because it has the lowest rates of mental illness. But Luxembourg is a relatively small country. Even so, this demonstrates the need for many countries to improve these areas.
New Zealand is the world leader in combination of infrastructure, business competition, and economic quality (Legatum Institute, 2016). This contributes to a low poverty rate and a competitive medical industry. New Zealand also is among the world leaders in personal freedoms and safety and security, all of which contribute to lower levels of stress and anxiety (both contributors to the development of mental illness). New Zealand also has very strong social capital. As such, New Zealand is considered top ten in mental health. The Netherlands and Sweden also have very strong economies, infrastructure, and competition, promoting the development of their medical sectors and minimizing poverty. Germany is a leader in economic output per capita, safety and security, and is the world leader in minimizing pollution. With low poverty and pollution, Germany is among the world leaders in mental health. Denmark and Switzerland also score high on economic factors, social capital, and freedoms, decreasing stress and poverty. The United States has high economic freedom, but not a business environment conducive to lowering poverty. Social capital is high in the U.S., but the country scores poorly on pollution. Mental health is becoming a major problem in the U.S., even though the country has the world’s most technologically advanced health care system due to its free and innovative medical industry.
Of course, mental and physical health care play important roles in a country’s mental health. Luxembourg again tops the list, as the country has the world’s best medical care for both mental and physical health care (Legatum Institute, 2016). As mentioned above, New Zealand is a world leader in a number of factors that contribute to good mental health. However, New Zealand’s mental health care is not among the world leaders. Because of this, New Zealand is not among the top five leaders in mental health. Similarly, the U.S. has the most advanced medical care system, but ranks 32nd in the health care received by its citizens (Legatum Institute, 2016). This is primarily because health care in the U.S. is very expensive and out of the range of the average American. Mental health care is better than physical health care in the U.S. because mental health care treatment is less expensive than physical health care in the U.S. and the U.S. is the leader in developing the field of psychology through research and the American Psychological Association. Nonetheless, the U.S. is also heavily dependent on using pharmacological treatments to treat mental illness instead of implementing psychotherapy treatments. Health care insurance, in general, promotes pharmacological treatments being less expensive than frequent psychotherapy. Many developed Western states face similar issues, but none more than the U.S.
Many of the other countries mentioned above exceed at providing high quality health care to their citizens. Norway, Switzerland, and the Netherlands have excellent health care systems (Legatum Institute, 2016). Each of these countries have demonstrated highly technological and accessible health care systems. Coupled with their low poverty rates and the maintenance of high business competition, these three countries are among the top five in mental health. While these three countries have excellent health care systems, there are many places that do not have the same level of health care due to different factors. Unlike these countries, Japan has an excellent national health care system, but lack the economic productivity and social capital to make this system accessible to all citizens. Poverty levels are high in Japan. While the Japanese economy is quite free, the medical industry has been unable to reach many of the country’s impoverished and rural populations. Canada scores moderately strongly on many of the factors mentioned above, but is the leader in none (Legatum Institute, 2016). Canada has a strong economy, but not a top ten in the world per capital. Canada scores very highly on innovation, including in its healthcare industry, but has not surpassed the top countries in this respect. Canada has low poverty, but citizens are dependent on a national health care system that is not advanced as many others. Compared to its Southern neighbor, Canada has a better health care system and this system is more accessible to more of its population. Even so, Canada may only be approaching top ten in mental health.
Meanwhile, Singapore is second only to Luxembourg as the world leader in providing high quality health care, both mental and physical, to its entire population (Legatum Institute, 2016). Luxembourg and Singapore may be considered as outliers, because they are different from most countries. There are many different countries that have positive factors that are excellent at decreasing mental illness, but they do not have strong mental health care systems, which impact negatively on their rankings, such as Hong Kong, Denmark, and the UK. In contrast to the countries listed above, the Nordic countries, such as Denmark and Iceland, tend to have less poverty as well as excellent health care systems, which gives them better ratings for health care. Africa and South America are not among the countries with the best mental health. On a per country basis, North America likely has the best mental health. The U.S. and Canada rank so high on the scales for mental health, they easily make up for the fact that Mexico only ranks moderately. While Europe has many countries that rank high in mental health care systems, they also have several that rank rather low due to many factors, such as poverty and low social capital.
This analysis of the best mental health around the world reveals several relevant factors for sustaining strong mental health within a state. Economic development without egalitarian measures can lead to poverty, increasing stress and anxiety and decreasing sleep for citizens. Meanwhile, many countries were found to have highly advanced medical systems and processes for treating mental illness, but citizens did not have high access to these services. For countries seeking to improve the mental health of their general populations, the concentration should be on the alleviation of poverty and improving access to health care. Allowing for a relatively free medical market can also spur technological development in mental health care, as the U.S. has demonstrated. Yet, as was shown above, the U.S. faces its own mental health and health care issues. This demonstrates that each state will have its own set of virtues and vices regarding the development and treatment of mental health disorders.
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