Tag Archives: Andorra

Ten Countries That Drink The Most Alcohol

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Ten Countries That Drink The Most Alcohol.

“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.” Edgar Allan Poe

“Are you over 21 yet””why?“I wanted you to buy me some beer.’

Not all countries have this problem. According to the World Health Organization (where I get a lot of my information for these lists) here are the top ten countries to get drunk in. The best way to measure alcohol consumption anywhere in the world is through the per capita consumption of pure alcohol within a given country.

10. They start drinking young in Slovakia. The average age of tasting your first drink is around ten years old. Fifteen to eighteen year olds are drinking less and men drink more than women.

9. In the Czech Republic people take pride in their drinking and their beer. They have the highest consumption of beer per person in the world, bur for some reason rate low in drunkeness.

8. Hungary is a little more voracious about their drinking than many other countries. It is one of the leading countries in liver cirrhosis mortality in the world.

7. Unlike many countries with high levels of alcohol consumption, Andorra’s economy is fairly prosperous. Andorra is located between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains and has an exceptionally strong tourism industry. Wine is the drink of choice.

6. Drinking on various festive occasions is a large part of Ukrainian culture.Heavy alcohol consumption at any occasion in the Ukraine possible. Fourteen is the average age to try alcohol.

5. There is a much higher incidence of alcohol abuse in the villages and rural areas than in the larger cities of Romania. Most of the alcohol in these areas is of the homemade variety.

4. The high number of early deaths in Russia is mainly due to people drinking too much alcohol, particularly vodka. Causes of death include liver disease and alcohol poisoning. Many also die in accidents or after getting into fights.

3. In Lithuania, people use alcohol to feel better and relax. Most beer drinking is done at home. Lithuania scores highly in countries with binge drinking and ten per cent of the population have alcohol related disorders.

2. Citizens of Moldova are some of the world’s biggest drinkers. Moldovans drink nearly three times the global average. The country is poor and a major wine producer, with many people drinking cheap homemade wine, vodka and other spirits.

1.Belarusians are the heaviest drinkers in the world. Alcohol is a major reason of crime, suicide and health problems in Belarus. The idea of a healthy lifestyle remains unpopular especially for older generations and village dwellers. Alcohol remains a profitable business for the state and it has its own influential lobbyists who are actively a work promoting their interests.

Fly and drive safe,

JAZ

Ten Countries With The Best Health Care Systems

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“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” Voltaire

To better understand the health care debate it is important to note that not all the countries in the world have the same health care. The commonality is universal coverage, but wealthy nations have taken varying approaches to it, some relying heavily on the government (as with single-payer); some relying more on private insurers; others in between. Experts don’t agree on which is best; a lot depends on perspective. Nothing seems to be perfect. This rating is the top ten countries from the World Health Organization.

1. France does not have socialized medicine. They have both privatized and government insurance. Everyone has health care. When someone goes to see a doctor, the national insurance program pays 70 percent of the bill. Most of the other 30 percent gets picked up by supplemental private insurance, which almost everyone has. It’s affordable, and much of it gets paid for by a person’s employer. In France, the sicker you are, the more coverage you get. It’s expensive to provide this kind of health care. But it is not as expensive as the U.S. system, which is the world’s most costly.

2.In Italy, healthcare is considered a right and the national health plan is designed to provide for all Italian citizens.The health care is funded by a broad tax system. The money to fund the system comes from all the classes.

3.Local and foreign national residents of San Marino are entitled to free, comprehensive health care from public hospitals. All employees must register upon starting a job and are issued a health card and number, and are automatically registered with a doctor in their neighborhood. Employers pay a contribution for each employee and dependent family members, deducted from their salaries, while the self-employed must pay the full contribution. Vulnerable people, such as the unemployed, aged and seriously ill do not need to register with an employer, and are entitled to free treatment.

4.Andorra has some of the most technologically advanced hospitals in Europe, and is similar to the French healthcare system. Public health is linked to social contributions.

5.Malta has a strong public healthcare system, which provides free services to all Maltese citizens and European Union residents. Malta has both a government healthcare service and a private system.

6.Singapore shows that fusions of conservative and liberal ideas in health care really are possible. Singapore is a place where the government acts to keep costs low and then uses those low costs to make a market-driven insurance system possible. Singapore’s government controls and pays for much of the medical system itself — hospitals are overwhelmingly public, a large portion of doctors work directly for the state.

7.Spain‘s single-payer health care system is ranked seventh best in the world by the World Health Organization. The system offers universal coverage as a constitutionally guaranteed right and no out-of-pocket expenses — aside from prescription drugs.

8. All Omani citizens have free access to universal healthcare. Much of the staff is foreign-born or received training abroad, but with more young Omanis completing college, this is beginning to change. In larger cities, especially Muscat, the quality of medical care is high, but you shouldn’t expect the same standards in rural areas. It has emerged that Oman is in the process of drafting a new set of mandatory health insurance laws beginning January 2018.The new laws will pass on some of the responsibility of looking after employee health to their employers by mandating that they implement suitable health insurance provisions.

9.Austria has had a health care system that ensures high-quality medical care for all citizens, independent of their social status or income. Building such a health care system has not been easy: it is the result of a long, hard road; many people have fought for it. The can also purchase supplementary private insurance.

10.In Japan, health care has long been likened to air and water — often taken for granted. Under the Japanese system, everyone must join a public insurance program through their employer or municipal government and pay a monthly premium that is determined by income.

Fly safe,
JAZ