Dutch Beat French and Swiss to Top Oxfam’s Ranking of Best Countries to Eat

16 Jan 2014 --- The Netherlands is the No. 1 country in the world for having the most plentiful, nutritious, healthy and affordable diet, ahead of France and Switzerland. Chad is last, ranking 125th behind Ethiopia and Angola, according to a new food index from international relief and development organization Oxfam.

The United States ties for 21st with Japan in spite of having the most affordable food on the planet and a high rank on food quality. Extreme levels of obesity and diabetes leave the U.S. 120th out of 125 countries when it comes to healthy eating.

“Having sufficient healthy and affordable food is not something that much of the world enjoys,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “Across the globe, particularly in developing countries, far too many people are consuming more and more unhealthy food. Paradoxically, more than 800 million people cannot get enough nutritious food to eat. Governments and the food industry are failing to ensure that everyone is able to eat healthfully, despite there being more than enough food to go around.”

European countries occupy the entire top 20 with Australia tied in 8th place. African countries occupy the bottom 30 places in the table except for four – Laos, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India are there too.

Oxfam’s “Good Enough to Eat” index compares 125 countries where full data is available to create a snapshot of the different challenges people face in getting food. Oxfam’s GROW campaign is calling for urgent reform to the way food is produced and distributed around the world to end the scandal of one in eight people going hungry despite there being more than enough to feed everyone. The new index looks at whether people have enough to eat, food quality, affordability, and dietary health.

On affordability, the UK is among the worst performers in Western Europe, sharing 20th position with Cyprus. Food in Guinea, The Gambia, Chad and Iran costs people two-and-a-half times more than other consumer goods, making those the most expensive countries for citizens to buy food. Angola and Zimbabwe suffer from the most volatile food prices, researchers found.

The countries whose citizens struggle for enough food, with the worst rates of malnourishment and underweight children, are Burundi, Yemen, Madagascar and India. On the other side of the table, Cambodia and Burundi are countries that score better by having among the lowest levels of obesity and diabetes in the world, while US, Mexico, Fiji, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia score most poorly with high rates of obesity and diabetes.

Iceland scores a perfect mark for the quality of its food, in terms of nutritional diversity and safe water. Iceland’s obesity and diabetes levels push it down the table, to 13th spot.

Oxfam is working worldwide to provide long-term solutions that will help people grow enough food to eat and make a living. In Chad, Oxfam is helping farmers grow and diversify more crops, providing veterinary training to help ensure cattle are stronger and are helping to build more food storage, so that people are better prepared with the next drought conditions.

“Poverty and inequality are the real drivers of hunger,” said Offenheiser. “That is why Oxfam’s GROW campaign is pushing governments and the food industry for more investment in small-holder agriculture and better infrastructure to boost crop production, prevent waste and improve access to markets.”

The campaign engages supporters to seek an end to biofuels mandates, which are diverting food from hungry people to fuel tanks, action to tackle climate change, better regulation of food commodities markets to prevent food price hikes and improved land rights so people do not lose the land they rely upon to grow food.