South Korea ranked No. 35 among 188 countries in a health and living standards report published last week in the Lancet medical journal.
South Korea scored an overall 73 points on the Sustainable Development Goal index while North Korea ranked No. 116 with 55 points. Seoul won full points in six sectors, including stunting and wasting.
Reflecting Korea’s worrisome suicide rate, highest among 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations, its suicide index stood at 25 points, data showed.
Iceland topped the list scoring 85.5 points, followed by Singapore and Sweden both standing at 85.3 points, the Lancet said, adding the median of the index was 59.3.
The SDG score is based across 33 different health indicators of progress toward UN goals.
