The Burrow
Feb 3, 2025
Gut health has taken over TikTok, with a staggering 978,900 posts under the hashtag, and counting. Good gut health has such a positive aspect on our bodies – from regulating our moods and immune systems to helping reduce our risks of developing chronic health problems – it’s no wonder people are paying more attention to their guts.
As experts in understanding how health insurance can help to contribute to better gut health and general wellbeing, we wanted to see which countries are paying more attention to their gut health than others. By analysing various factors – from consumption of alcohol and coffee to stress levels, quality of diets and more; we’ve uncovered the countries that are most likely to have the best gut health.
With Australia making it in 17th place, the top 10 countries are mainly located in Asia and North Africa, with a couple of exceptions.
Singapore comes at the top for good gut health, with plenty of reasons why! The country boasts the joint top water quality alongside Italy and the US, as well the sixth lowest consumption of alcohol a year (1.81 litres per capita). Singaporeans also have the seventh best diet quality (3.28), and the joint eighth lowest stress levels, with 32% stating they experienced stress.
In second place for good gut health is Indonesia, with the lowest levels of stress reported, at just 13%. High stress levels can not only affect the makeup of your gut’s microbiome, but it can also make it more sensitive to pain, so not feeling stressed is one great way to keep your gut in check.
Not only that, but Indonesia also has the lowest alcohol consumption levels in the world, at 0.08 litres per capita a year, with 87% of citizens identifying as Muslim; as well as the third lowest coffee consumption and third best diet quality.
With the fourth lowest levels of alcohol consumption (0.51 litres per capita per year), the fifth best diet quality score (3.45), and the eighth lowest coffee consumption (1.27kg per capita per year), Morocco comes in third place for great gut health.
With flavourful veggie tagines and high-in-fibre couscous a staple of many Moroccan diets, it’s no wonder the country scores so well for food. The great news is that it’s the joint 10th cheapest place for healthy eating, costing around USD$3.14 for a healthy diet, tying with the UAE.
Nepal officially has the fourth best gut health in the world, with the highest levels of physical activity, with 92% of adults exercising, alongside the second lowest coffee consumption levels (0.08kg), and the third lowest alcohol consumption levels (0.36 litres).
Moderate levels of exercise can help to increase the diversity of your gut bacteria, which reduces inflammation, and improves digestion – just make sure that you’re not doing too much high-intensity exercise, as it could lead to a “leaky gut”, which can cause headaches, bloating, and diarrhoea.
Rounding off our top five countries for good gut health is the UK, with the lowest healthy eating costs, at just USD$2.12, as well as the joint seventh highest levels of physical activity, tying with New Zealand, Indonesia, and Switzerland (81%), and the ninth best water quality in the world, with the EPI scoring it 97.
Not only that, but the UK population searched for “gut health” an average of 112,600 times each month (the third highest), showing the awareness of gut health, and its impact on overall health and wellbeing.
Egypt, the Netherlands, the UAE, India, and the USA make up positions 6-10 for gut health; with the US and India having the most searches for “gut health” than anywhere else, at 416,600 and 136,900 per month, respectively.
Denmark and South Africa have the second and third lowest stress levels in the world (21% and 27%) yet scored 30th and 26th overall. Meanwhile Greece and Turkey came top for their diet quality scores, ranking 15th and 11th overall.
When it comes to physical activity, Sweden and the Netherlands came joint second, with 91% of citizens getting the recommended amount of exercise, followed by Finland at 90%. Finally, for healthy eating costs, Ireland and Belgium came the second and third lowest, at USD$2.48 and USD$2.56, respectively.
Australia scored 17th overall, with 62,700 monthly searches for “gut health” (the fourth most overall), and 44% of citizens feeling stressed – placing joint 33rd. Diet quality, and consumption of coffee and alcohol are middle of the table; but Australia scores well for healthy eating costs and quality of water – the latter of which has a score of 91, tying with Denmark.
Compare the Market’s Executive General Manager of Health Insurance, Steven Spicer, notes the importance of health insurance while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
“Maintaining good gut health levels is important for so many reasons. From a physical point of view, a healthy gut helps to fight off infections by boosting your immunity,” Mr Spicer said.
“If you are concerned about the health of your gut and want to take precautionary measures to ensure it stays in good shape, it’s worth looking at extras policies that will pay a benefit towards sessions with dietitians and other health professionals for related advice.
“On the unfortunate case that you do fall unwell, it can also be helpful to have a private hospital policy in place so you can avoid extensive wait lists typically seen through the public system.
“Regardless of your reasons for getting cover, it’s important to shop around to look for the most suitable policy for you and your lifestyle.”
This dataset ranks 45 countries, based on how good they are for gut health. To do this, 8 different factors were used. Once the data for the factors was collected, the factors were then normalised, to provide each factor with a score of between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given. The normalised values were then weighted and summed, to give each location a total score out of 10. The locations were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.
The factors used are as follows:
The factors were indexed as follows:
All data is correct as of 09/01/25. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regards to the sources provided.