The Health of Nations programme of research was created by the Economist Intelligence Unit for GE. The Economist Intelligence Unit's editorial team built the Index, undertook the research and analysis, conducted the interviews, and wrote the key findings, case studies and profiles. The findings and views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of GE.
The index
The Health of Nations Index was built by the Economist Intelligence Unit in order to assess countries on their ability to meet the health demands of their populations. Its coverage extends to 50 countries, and the assessments are based on each nation's performance in 21 core indicators.
Summarising the complex nature of healthcare systems is extremely difficult in a single index. For one thing, the health challenges facing some countries are very different from those faced by others. These may derive from differing levels of economic development, climatic conditions, culture or other factors. For this reason, the Index is divided into three separate components: Healthcare Inputs, Outcomes and Risk.
The Healthcare Inputs Index is comprised of seven indicators which measure the population's access to hospitals, doctors and other health personnel as well as key types of preventive medicine. The Healthcare Outcomes Index gauges the health status of populations by considering eight indicators covering mortality rates, the prevalence of diseases and nutritional health. The Healthcare Risk Index is based on the recognition that future demands on healthcare systems are influenced also by exogenous factors; this component thus considers such factors as smoking, access to clean water and air, and obesity levels.
The Key Findings draw out specific trends from the data series and grapple with some of the big issues facing healthcare systems worldwide. They synthesize the data from the Health of Nations index with other research and explore the ramifications of the results.
The indicators
All the indicators used in the Index are quantitative in nature. They were selected by the Economist Intelligence Unit based on their fit with several criteria. To merit inclusion, each indicator had to be:
Therefore, reputable and recent standardised data sets are used from international sources such as the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, the United Nations and the OECD.
Healthcare Inputs Index
Healthcare Outcomes Index
Healthcare Risk Index
Scoring, weighting and testing
Based on scores generated in each indicator, the 50 countries have been grouped into quintile bands in each of the Inputs, Outcomes and Risk indexes according to how they perform relative to the other countries. The band labels are:
To assign countries to each band, composite scores were compiled in the three indexes using the "min-max method" to normalise the data sets. Each country received a score for each indicator out of 100, based on where the country sits on the range of values of that indicator for all countries. One of the advantages of the min-max method is that it can fix a specific range of data at the outset so that, all else remaining constant, changes in one country's indicator in one year will not change the scores for all other countries.
Equal weights have been assigned to each indicator within each index, with the exception of the four individual Healthcare Risk indicators on smoking prevalence and access to improved water, which are each half weighted to ensure an equal balance with other indicators.
In order to test the results, manipulation and scenario analysis have been conducted. This involved, for example, excluding indicators from each index; assuming some data were "missing"; trying alternative normalisation techniques; and assigning different indicator weightings to analyse the changes from the "baseline" scores. Other sense checks include scatter plots of the final index scores versus other independent variables, such as life expectancy.
Case studies and video interviews
All case studies were based on research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Interviews for these, as well as all video interviews, were conducted between March and May 2010 at a variety of locations worldwide.
Country profiles
Unless otherwise indicated, the country profiles are excerpted from Economist Intelligence Unit healthcare reports which appear on its Healthcare Briefings & Forecasts website. The profiles offer country-specific outlooks on healthcare spending and policy and issues surrounding disease, using the most recent available data.
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