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The World’s 20 Unhealthiest Cities (6 Are In The U.S.)


By now, we’re all familiar with the unfortunate “Covid 15” that many people have joked about packing on over the last year. But some reports reveal that Americans have actually been getting healthier during the pandemic. A national survey by Parade/Cleveland Clinic found that many Americans are cooking healthier meals, staying on top of their medical care and health risks, connecting with loved ones in new ways and finding joy wherever they can. All of these changes—that those surveyed expect to continue long term—contribute to a stronger health outlook.

Still, this country has a long way to go, according to a recent study from Lenstore, which analyzed 44 global cities to determine the best—and worst—places to lead a healthy, happy life. Fitness and diet aren’t the only measurements of health; a city’s surrounding environment plays a big part, as well. Lenstore looked at 10 metrics ranging from sunshine hours to the average cost of a gym membership to life expectancy to determine which cities are best for healthy living.

“Our health has never been more important and it’s really interesting to see that leading a healthy and happy life can be influenced by your location by such a significant amount,” says Roshni Patel, Lenstore professional services manager. “The shorter working weeks and low pollution levels have proved greatly successful for cities in the north of Europe such as Copenhagen and Stockholm, despite these locations receiving some of the lowest hours of sunshine each year.”

But other factors can contribute greatly to a healthy lifestyle, too. Some cities are superior at offering outdoor activities and lower costs for those who make fitness a priority. “Keeping fit and healthy can also become costly with gym memberships and costs of groceries varying in different cities. It’s great to see cities with hundreds of outdoor activities that can be enjoyed for free. With many different factors, it’s important to consider which are the most important to you to lead the healthiest and happiest lifestyle you possible can,” Patel says.

Here in the United States, a whopping six cities fell in the bottom half of Lenstore’s global rankings. New York City and Washington D.C. ranked third and fourth most unhealthy, respectively. In addition, four other U.S. cities—San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles—all fell short in the metrics analyzed.

With the United States facing some of the world’s highest levels of obesity—36% of the adult population—and major cities unable to part with long, stressful working hours, it’s no wonder that so many American cities struggle with health metrics. We caught up with Lenstore spokesperson Erika Morciano to understand what else might be contributing to American cities’ poor health.

“Other than the high obesity levels, NYC and Washington D.C. have some of the highest gym membership prices, compared to the other countries analyzed,” Morciano says. “The high prices mean that the gyms are not necessarily accessible to all citizens within the city, which is one reason it has ranked so poorly against other cities.”

“Furthermore, we found that Washington D.C. has a lower number of outside activities compared to other locations analyzed. Our research shows that the city currently has only 83 outside activities compared to Amsterdam, which has over 400.” That’s a stark contrast that inevitably led to D.C.’s poor ranking.

And while New Yorkers love their take-out, it’s not usually the healthiest food option. “The numerous places available to eat out and the high pollution levels are just some of the reasons we see NYC rank much less healthy than its global city counterparts,” Morciano says.

As for the healthiest city in Lenstore’s study? Head to Amsterdam for that happy, healthy life. Scoring high marks across the metrics, the capital of the Netherlands is famous for being bike-friendly and boasts abundant picturesque canal walks. There are almost 2,000 hours of sunshine per year, and Amsterdam residents take advantage of all that Vitamin D by working fewer hours per week than other cities. Plus, the Netherlands as a whole has relatively low obesity levels (20%), long life expectancy (81.2 years) and high happiness levels. Surely, the Dutch have a few things figured out.

World’s 20 Unhealthiest Cities

  1. Mexico City
  2. Moscow
  3. New York City
  4. Washington D.C.  
  5. Milan
  6. Johannesburg, South Africa
  7. London
  8. Zurich
  9. São Paulo
  10. Paris
  11. San Francisco
  12. Brussels
  13. Shanghai
  14. Hong Kong
  15. Chicago
  16. Tokyo
  17. Dublin
  18. Boston
  19. Mumbai
  20. Los Angeles

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