US ranked No. 28 in world for health, living standards

As of 2015, Iceland and Sweden are the global leaders when it comes to achieving the health goals set by the United Nations, known as the Sustainable Development Goals, according to a report published in The Lancet. Out of 188 countries, the U.S. was ranked No. 28.

The UN General Assembly's SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. For the latest study, researchers estimated the performance of 33 health-related SDG indicators for 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. The SDGs, which include the Millennium Development Goals and the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study of 2015, measure things like poverty, clean water and education, as well as societal inequality and industry innovation.

More than 1,870 researchers in 124 countries worked on the massive study, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Here are four findings on the U.S.'s performance on health matters, according to the study.

1. The U.S. earned its highest marks in water, sanitation and child development, according to a Bloomberg report on the study. However, interpersonal violence such as gun crime yanked down its score.

2. Other challenges, such as natural disasters, HIV, suicide, obesity and alcohol abuse also require increased attention in the U.S., according to the report. The U.S. scored No. 69 for childhood obesity, No. 42 for violence (homicides per every 100,000 people), and No. 54 for alcohol abuse.

3. There are multiple public health metrics that the U.S. performs worse on than other developed nations. For instance, the U.S. is No. 64 in the rate of mothers dying for every 100,000 births. It is No. 40 when it comes to the mortality rate for children under five.

4. The U.S. demonstrated high performance for the number of war fatalities per 100,000 people (No. 100), the prevalence of good personal hygiene (No. 95) and occupational risk — the rate of accidents in the workplace per 100,000 people (No. 80).

Here is a list of the top 30 countries according to the study:

1. Iceland
2. Singapore
3. Sweden
4. Andorra
5. United Kingdom
6. Finland
7. Spain
8. Netherlands
9. Canada
10. Australia
11. Norway
12. Luxembourg
13. Ireland
14. Malta
15. Germany
16. Denmark
17. Cyprus
18. Belgium
19. Switzerland
20. Italy
21. Brunei
22. Portugal
23. Israel
24. France
25. Slovenia
26. Greece
27. Japan
28. United States
29. Estonia
30. New Zealand