Health in general
- A surprisingly low 4% believe that they are unhealthy
- A further 19% believe that they are somewhat unhealthy
- 76% of people believe that they are very healthy (16%) or healthy (60%)
- The % of people who believe that they are very healthy drops from 33% (of people under 18 yrs) to 10% of people over 65 yrs
- The % of people who believe that they are unhealthy increases from 2% of people under 18 yrs to 7% of people over 65 yrs
- The region with the highest net positive health score is Africa (64% net) and the lowest is MENA (42% net)
Aspects of Health
- Being healthy corresponds well with perceived levels of fitness, weight and mood/stress
- 68% of people believe that they are fit including 15% who believe that they are very fit
- 66% believe that their weight is either very good (17%) or good (49%). Only 7% believe that their weight is very poor
- 79% believe their mood/stress is either very good (23%) or good (56%).
Health and Behavior
- This survey explored the relationship between perceived health levels and 11
health related behaviors, with some surprising results:
o Smoking incidence (very often/fairly often) is 18% or above for all
perceived levels of health. However, the least healthy have the highest
incidence (27%)
o Drinking alcohol has similar incidence for all health levels with the
healthiest having a slightly higher incidence
o The countries with the highest perceived incidence of drinking
frequently (very often/fairly often) are Japan (49%) and Mexico (48%)
o Of the proactive health behaviors explored, the highest incidence (very
often/fairly often) is exercise (37%), avoiding products that cause
allergies (30%), taking vitamin supplements (25%)
o The lowest incidence of proactive health behaviors is practicing
mindfulness techniques (14%), going on a diet (15%) and purchasing diet
or health products (16%)
o 79% of all people interviewed are taking medicines prescribed by a
doctor. As would be expected, people who perceive that they are
“unhealthy” or “somewhat unhealthy” are taking prescribed medicines
at high frequencies
o Suffering from some levels of stress is experienced by the vast majority
of people (86%). 30% suffer from stress at high frequencies (very
often/fairly often). The people who are unhealthy suffer from stress
most often (54%)
o Sleeping well is correlated with perceived health. 3% of people
interviewed never sleep well and 32% of people only sleep well
sometimes or occasionally.
COMMENTARY
Health in general
With News headlines such as “Today’s adult generations are less healthy than their
predecessors”*, “Today’s adults 15 years ‘older’ than their parents”** it is surprising
to learn in the 2018 WIN World Survey (WWS) that the vast majority of people (76%)
around the world believe that they are healthy. Only 4% believe that they are
unhealthy, although 19% believe that they are somewhat unhealthy.
This large perceptual gap between how healthy people feel and objective measures
of health risk factors may explain the challenge health authorities have in changing
behaviors.
The perceived healthiness is similar by gender. There is a slightly higher % of males
who perceive that they are very healthy and a slightly higher % of females who
perceive that they are somewhat unhealthy.
1% don’t know
The perceived level of healthiness changes with age. The level that changes most
noticeably is the “Very Healthy”. This level reduces from 33% when under 18 years to
10% when over 65 years.
16% 18% 15%
60% 59% 60%
19% 18% 20%
4% 4% 4%
Total MALE FEMALE
Perceived healthiness by gender
VERY HEALTHY HEALTHY SOMEWHAT UNHEALTHY UNHEALTHY
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