Healthier lifestyle by Germans than Brits

Germans exercise more than their British counterparts but eat less healthy than Britons, the Gallup-Healthways Healthy Behavior Index indicates. The index measures elements of a healthy lifestyle -- exercise, healthy eating and smoking. The survey of 7,786 German adults and 7,941 Britons was taken Jan. 1-Aug. 31. The Healthy Behavior Index score for all adults in Germany was 71 percent and 68 percent in Britain. The German's lead on the index was due primarily to the German women: 76 percent of German women reported healthy lifestyle compared with 70 percent of British women. Specifically, German women beat British women by 24 percentage points for reporting exercising three or more days per week. However, the British were more likely to say they ate healthy all day "yesterday" and that they ate fruit and vegetables frequently. Sixty-nine percent of British men reported eating healthy, compared with 61 percent of German men, while 73 percent of German women reported eating healthily versus 70 percent of British women. Seventy-four percent of men in Britain reported they did not smoke, compared with 67 percent of men in Germany, while eight in 10 women said they were non-smokers in both countries. The margin of error was 1 percentage point in each country's survey.