It’s known for its beautiful architecture and breathtaking coastline, but now Malta has a new claim to fame. 

Experts have revealed that it’s the country with the highest levels of body confidence. 

In a new global study, researchers from Anglia Ruskin University surveyed over 56,000 people from 65 nations about their body image. 

Malta, Taiwan, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan topped the list as the most body confident countries. 

At the other end of the table, Australia, India, and UK were revealed as the countries with the lowest levels of body confidence. 

Previous research has found a link between high levels of body appreciation and a range of positive wellbeing traits, including improved self-esteem and healthy eating habits. 

However, until now, little research has looked at how body appreciation varies around the world. 

To answer this question, the team enlisted 56,968 participants from 65 nations who were surveyed about their body image. 

Participants were asked to rate how much they agreed with 10 statements, including ‘I respect my body’, and ‘I appreciate the different and unique characteristics of my body.’ 

Overall, the results revealed that having a more positive body image was strongly associated with better psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction. 

Professor Viren Swami, lead author of the study, said: ‘This is one of the largest studies on body image ever carried out, brought about by a collaborative research effort involving over 250 scientists across the world. 

‘Our finding that greater body appreciation is associated with better psychological wellbeing highlights the importance of developing ways to promote more positive body image globally.’

Breaking the results down by country, the researchers found that Malta topped the list as the most body confident, followed by Taiwan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, South Korea and the Philippines. 

At the other end of the scale, people in Australia had the lowest body confidence, followed by India, the UK, Ireland, Ukraine, Germany and the USA.  

Finally, the study found that, across nations, body appreciation was higher in people living in rural areas, as well as those who were single. 

‘People who live in urban areas may feel stronger pressure to conform to body ideals promoted by Western society, and it is also notable that people from countries considered culturally different to the United States appeared to have broadly greater body appreciation,’ Professor Swami said. 

‘People in rural areas may also benefit from being in nature, which past research has also shown to be linked with positive body image.’

The researchers hope the findings will encourage authorities around the world to promote more positive body image.

‘We are confident that the present work will help scholars better understand the meaning and manifestation of body appreciation across nations, and will be of value to practitioners and policy-makers seeking to promote more positive body image outcomes in diverse national, cultural, and linguistic groups,’ the team wrote in the study, published in Body Image. 

The shortest people in the world live on the 11,883-square-mile Southeast Asian island of Timor-Leste.

The average Timorese man is just five feet 2.9 inches tall, while the average woman stands four feet 11.5 inches.

Several other countries in Southeast Asia also made the list, including Laos and the Philippines, which experts believe is because their ancestors adapted the smaller stature to withstand the overwhelming heat.

The US did not make rank among the 25 nations with the shortest people – the average man is five feet nine inches, while women are about five feet four inches. 

The UK also didn’t crack the top 25 – men there measure an average of just five feet six inches, while women are five feet five inches tall. 

The data was compiled by Insider, which pulled information from NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, a medical database linked to Imperial College London. It separates the average heights of men and women for each country. Insider then took an average of those two figures for each of the countries.

Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of an individual’s height is determined by their inherited DNA sequence variations.

In 2010, a team with Harvard Medical School identified hundreds of mutations that account for about 10 percent of the inherited difference in height among people.

They found hundreds of variants associated with height in at least 180 different spots in the human genome. 

These mutations cluster consistently around genes from at least six different biological pathways – many near those already known to be involved in skeletal growth syndromes.

Others implicate previously unrecognized genetic growth regulators – opening up new possibilities for biological studies of height.

And the 2010 study explains why those living in Timor-Leste are the shortest in the world.

Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, is a small island separated into two parts, shared by Indonesia’s capital Kupang. 

At the same time, the Portuguese occupied the eastern part of this island, but the southeast region is home to the shortest people in the world.

In 1896, the height of natives did not surpass five feet.

However, settlers from Portugal and Indonesia moved in during the 20th century, which led to a change in the appearance of the natives.

But in the 1970s, Timorese had grown to five feet three inches, on average, but then saw a decline to five feet or less due to civil war that impacted their evolution.

This is because people no longer moved around the island and mated with different ethnicities. 

Interestingly enough, the second group of shortest people also live in Southeast Asia – Laos.

This country is known for its rolling hills, Buddhist temples and stunning landmarks.

The average man in Laos is five feet 3.19 inches tall, and the average woman stands four feet 11.55 inches.

And the Philippines, also a country in Southeast Asia, made the list, sitting in fifth.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, is the tallest country in the world. Men, on average, measure 5 feet 11.86 inches, and women are 5 feet 6.42 inches tall. 

Researchers have suggested that the country’s leading healthcare system and low amount of income inequality could factor into the towering population.

It is best known for being the situated along the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas.

But, despite its awe-inspiring landscape, Nepal is actually the most polluted country in the world.

Residents in the landlocked country in South Asia are exposed to 99.73 micrograms per cubic metre (μg) of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), on average, throughout the year, according to Oxford University‘s Our World in Data platform.

Experts called the figure — which is nearly 20-times higher than the World Health Organization‘s guideline limits of 5μg/m3 — ‘alarming’.

For comparison, levels in the UK stood at 10.47μg/m3, while the US logged 7.41μg/m3. It means the nations had the 24th and ninth cleanest air, respectively.

PM2.5 refers to tiny particles that are less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter — about one ten-thousandth of an inch.

The particles can include dust, soot, metals and other chemicals. This pollution is linked to burning fossil fuels and is released from car engines and factories.

As the particles are so small, they pose a big risk to health, as they can be inhaled deep into the lungs. Swathes of evidence show that long-term exposure increases the risk of severe illness and death due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

As well as harming the heart and lungs, air pollutants also affect the brain, with studies linking exposure to a higher risk of dementia and cognitive decline. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that annual average concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5µg/m3.

The air quality data, gathered in 2017 and based purely on levels of PM2.5, is available for 195 countries.

Following Nepal, Niger (94.05μg/m3) and Qatar (91.19μg/m3) had the highest concentration of PM2.5.

The researchers said the high concentrations across North Africa are ‘very high’, partly due to ‘drier conditions with more sand and dust sources’.

Rounding off the top five countries with the poorest air quality is India, where the population of 1.4billion was exposed to 90.87μg/m3 of PM2.5, and Saudi Arabia, where 87.95μg/m3 was logged. 

Except for Qatar, each of the top five countries’ PM2.5 levels had increased since 1990 — indicating that efforts to improve pollution levels has been unsuccessful in some nations.

Of the top five offenders, Nepal had the biggest jump in levels of PM2.5, with the figure skyrocketing by 12.13μg/m3. This jump is more than twice the average annual exposure to PM2.5 in Finland.

Egypt (87μg/m3), Cameroon (72.79μg/m3), Nigeria (71.80μg/m3), Bahrain (70.82μg/m3) and Chad (66.03μg/m3) were also among the nations with the poorest air quality.

Dr Raj Tiwari, an assistant professor in climate change data science at the University of Hertfordshire, told MailOnline: ‘Countries like Nepal (South Asia), Niger (Africa) and Qatar (Middle East) are on the top end for PM2.5, with an exposure of more than 90 — which is very alarming.  

At the other end of the scale, Finland logged the lowest PM2.5 mean annual exposure (5.86μg/m3). However, this figure is still above the WHO’s safety levels.

It was closely followed by Brunei, a tiny nation on the border of Malaysia, which was exposed to just 5.9μg/m3. 

New Zealand (5.96μg/m3), Sweden (6.18μg/m3), Canada (6.43μg/m3) and Iceland (6.48μg/m3) also logged low levels of the air pollutant.

The Our World in Data figures also revealed national death rates due to outdoor air pollution in 2019.

Despite Nepal logging the worst levels of PM2.5, it was Uzbekistan that recorded the highest fatality rate.

The Central Asian country, home to 20.5million people, reported 179 deaths per 100,000 people — more than double the 81 seen in 1990.

It is closely followed by Egypt, where the death rate was 161, and Qatar (133). 

Dr Tiwari said: ‘Further analysis on death rates from outdoor air pollution is really an eye-opener, as it clearly shows how air pollution is highly linked with the economy of the countries.’

This is due to poorer countries tending to have weaker laws around air pollution, lower vehicle emission standards and higher numbers of coal power stations, according to the UN. 

Meanwhile, Finland recorded just three deaths per 100,000 caused by pollution exposure — the lowest in the world.

Pollution is one of the world’s largest health problems, behind 6.67million deaths worldwide in 2019, making it the third biggest killer, according to the WHO. 

Taking the top spot for the world’s biggest cause of death in 2019 was high blood pressure (10.85million) which was closely followed by smoking (7.69million), according to a Global Burden of Disease study published in The Lancet.

Americans might get a hard time for their high-sugar diets, but the US isn’t even in the top 50 worst countries for diabetes.

And despite Britons having a notoriously sweet tooth, the UK isn’t even among the worst 100 countries when it comes to diabetes rates.

Figures compiled by Our World In Data, using data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), analyzed the percentage of diabetic people between ages 20 and 79 in 211 countries. 

Pakistan topped the list, with about 31 percent of the population having the condition, followed closely by French Polynesia (25.2 percent), Kuwait (24.9 percent), Nauru (23.4 percent), and New Caledonia (23.4 percent).

One factor could be more and more people moving to urban areas and settling into more sedentary lifestyles, which increases the risk. 

Additionally, research has shown a higher genetic predisposition to the condition in Middle Eastern countries than in western nations.  

The US, meanwhile ranked 59, with one in 10 diabetics. The United Kingdom fell even lower, at 136, or a 6-percent diabetic rate. 

These countries, despite high consumptions of sugar and salt, which can increase diabetes risk, are more developed and have greater access to insulin and other diabetes medications. 

Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects how the body turns food into energy.

Normally, the body breaks food down into glucose, a type of sugar, and releases it into the bloodstream. 

This increases blood sugar, which triggers the pancreas to release insulin.

However, in diabetes, the body doesn’t make enough insulin, which causes too much blood sugar to remain in the bloodstream.  

In 2021, 537 million adults worldwide had diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation. This rate was a 16 percent (74 million) increase from 2019. 

Globally, over 90 percent of people with diabetes have type 2, which develops as result of obesity, poor diet, sedentary lifestyles, and family history. 

The IDF estimates that one in ten adults around the world are currently living with diabetes. The total number is predicted to rise to 643 million (11 percent) by 2030 and to 783 million (12.2 percent) by 2045. 

According to the World Health Organization, diabetes was the largest cause of death in 2019, claiming 1.5 million lives.  

In Pakistan, diabetes rates are skyrocketing. 

In 2021, 33 million Pakistani adults were living with diabetes, a 70 percent increase since 2019, according to IDF. Now, 31 percent of adults 20 to 79 have the condition. 

IDF estimates that diabetes accounted for more than 400,000 deaths in 2021. 

More than a quarter of adults with the condition in Pakistan are undiagnosed.

A 2022 study in the journal Annals of Medicine & Surgery attributed this rise to the scarcity of health care services in the country, especially in rural areas. The researchers also said that many people in Pakistan earn less than $3 per day, which is not enough to pay for insulin and other diabetes medications. 

Additionally, research has shown that only just over a quarter of Pakistani adults are highly physically active, and rates of diabetes are higher in Pakistan’s urban areas than rural ones. 

Meanwhile, in the US, which ranks 59 out of 211 countries, one in 10 adults have diabetes, according to the IDF data.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 28.7 million people have diagnosed diabetes, while 8.5 million are undiagnosed. 

In addition, 40 percent, or 96 million people over age 18, have prediabetes, which makes them significantly more likely to develop the condition. 

Weight is one of the biggest factors in American diabetes rates.

A study published last year in the Journal of the American Heart Association, for example, found that obesity is linked to 30 to 53 percent of new diabetes cases in the US per year. 

The CDC estimates that four in 10 Americans are obese, and the rate is climbing. Between March 2020 and March 2021, for example, number rose by 3 percent.

Dietary factors could be at play. 

The American diet is high in processed foods, which have been shown to have detrimental health drawbacks. 

A 2022 study from Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute estimated that 73 percent of the United States food supply is ultra-processed. 

And a study published in Frontiers in Nutrition found that more than 60 percent of US caloric intake comes from these foods. 

A global comparative study published in Obesity Reviews showed that an increase in sales per capita of ultra-processed food and drink was associated with higher body mass index (BMI). 

Sugar and salt are other dietary staples that can increase the risk of diabetes. 

A review published last month in the journal BMJ, for example, linked high consumption of added sugars to 45 negative health outcomes. 

These include diabetes, gout, obesity, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, cancer, asthma, tooth decay, depression, and early death. 

Additionally, the CDC estimates that more than 90 percent of Americans consume too much salt – 3,400 milligrams on average.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends adults limit sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day — that’s equal to about 1 teaspoon of table salt. 

One of the biggest offenders is fast food – an American staple. About 70 percent of sodium consumed comes from processed products.

Americans are also prone to sedentary lifestyles. Jobs that involve long periods of sitting have increased 83 percent from since 1950, according to the American Heart Association, and physically demanding jobs take up less than 20 percent of the workforce. 

A 2015 review in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that even after adjusting for physical activity, sitting for long periods was associated with greater risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  

The Mayo Clinic has warned that sitting for an extended period each day can cause many of the same issues and lead to the development of dangerous visceral fat in the midsection. 

The price of insulin can also mean that diabetics aren’t getting effective treatment in the US. On average, insulin prices have more than tripled over the past decade to $98.70 per vial, with Americans now paying ten times more than in other similar countries.

By Q4 2023, insulin manufacturer Eli Lilly’s cap of $35 per vial will go into effect. 

The UK ranks significantly lower than the US, at 136 out of 211.  

Diabetes UK estimates that more than 4.3 million people in the country live with diabetes, and 2.4 million are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The organization also points to 850,000 people in the UK living with the disease but not knowing it. 

Around 90 percent of these cases are type 2 diabetes. 

Similar to the US, weight is one of the primary risk factors for developing the disease. 

The Health Survey for England 2021 found that 64 percent of people ages 45 to 74 in the country are overweight or obese. The same data showed 28 percent of people were considered obese. This figure rose from 15 percent in 1993. 

Dietary factors, such as salt and sugar consumption, could also attribute to these rates. 

The British Heart Foundation estimates that adults in England consume about 8400 milligrams of salt per day, nearly two and a half times that of the US. This is 40 percent the country’s national guideline of 6000 milligrams. 

About 85 percent of that salt is already in purchased foods rather than being added during cooking, according to Public Health England. 

The UK’s rate is on par with Japan, who has just a 6.6 percent obesity rate. 

The traditional Japanese diet has been shown to reduce the likelihood of type 2 diabetes, as well as other chronic conditions such as heart disease. The diet is rich in minimally processed, low-sugar foods, such as fish, seaweed, green tea, soy, fruits, and vegetables. 

In a six-week study of 33 men following a traditional Japanese diet, 91 percent experienced significantly fewer risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including excess weight and high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. 

The country with the lowest diabetes rate is the West African nation Benin, in which just 1 percent of the population has the condition. 

This could be due to the country’s demographics.  

Benin is largely low income and rural, with nearly 10 percent of households being food insecure and almost a third of children under 5 suffering from malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme. 

More than 70 percent of the population works in agriculture, making them less sedentary than adults in the US or UK.