When it comes to the quality of end-of-life care, Great Britain ranks first in the world, says a study that looked at palliative care in 80 countries around the globe.
The integration of end-of-life care into the National Health System, along with a strong hospice movement, specialized staffing and community engagement are the reasons the U.K. placed at the top, the report by the Economist Intelligence Unit says.
Countries near the top of the EIU list are, as would be expected, high-income nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Taiwan, Netherlands, France and the United States, which was ranked ninth.
Countries near the bottom of the EIU Quality of Death Index included Botswana, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Iraq, Iran -- and China.
China is a particular concern in light of its huge population and "the impact of the one-child policy, often leaving individuals caring for two parents and four grandparents, [which] will lead to even more demand for outside resources to provide support," the report authors say.
Some low-income countries have managed to advance their palliative care systems and improve their ranking, report researchers said; Mongolia now ranks 28th and Panama ranks 31st, as both countries have established end-of-life care system in recent years.
Placing of countries on the EIU list closely follows an overall ranking of world healthcare systems by country prepared in 2014 by the Commonwealth Fund.
In the Unites States, existing palliative care systems are "open and transparent, but not universally affordable," the report says.
However, it adds, there are insufficient specialists to meet patient needs, with "only one palliative medicine physician for every 1,200 terminally ill patients."
A shortage of adequate care for people in end stages of life is a global problem, the report highlights, with only 35 of the 80 surveyed countries achieving above-average "quality of death" ratings.
And all countries in the world will find resources stretched in the future as they deal with increasingly aged populations, the report authors suggest.
Much more needs to be done, even by countries who achieved high rankings in the list, says David Line, managing editor of The Economist Intelligence Unit.
"It is an issue that will affect us all -- a good quality of death should be regarded as a human right," he says.
