Macau ranks joint highest on AIA Healthy Living Index

Macau and the People’s Republic of China have ranked joint-highest on the AIA Healthy Living Index 2018 with a total of 70 points each, according to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao.

Meanwhile, the neighboring region of Hong Kong received just 58 points accredited to the fact that the average person in the territory exercised for just three hours per week.

AIA has been asking about people’s attitudes to health since 2011 and this year surveyed 11,000 people in the Asia-Pacific region; namely the countries and territories of Australia, Cambodia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

This year the AIA Healthy Living Index average score is 64 for the Asia-Pacific region, unchanged when compared with the score from 2016. However, on aggregate satisfaction with health declined from 84 percent in 2016 to 81 percent in 2018, while weekly exercise increased from 3.0 hours per week in 2016 to 3.6 hours per week in 2018.

Environmental factors were seen to remain a key health concern with 62 percent saying that air pollution is negatively affecting their health, 43 percent admitted to having tries anti-pollution masks. Meanwhile, 49 percent are concerned about food safety.

The AIA report also found that the cost of maintaining health is also a concern. Fifty percent of respondents said that they were concerned about the potential costs of critical illnesses, while 46 percent estimated that the cost of cancer treatment would cause serious financial implications for them.  People identified, on average, a financial shortfall of 36 percent in their ability to pay direct cancer treatment costs.

Since 2011, AIA has conducted four Asia-Pacific-wide Healthy Living Index Surveys with the aim of highlighting trends and offering advice to individuals and communities on areas for improvement.