Table 1 Example of counterfactual construction

For 50 year old males, for example, the UK (United Kingdom) has the highest proportion of individuals in the undesirable alcohol consumption categories among the eleven countries (some 31 % consume more than 40 g/day). Hence, the observed alcohol consumption prevalence for this particular age/sex group is used for constructing the worst practice counterfactual scenario for the age- and sex group of 50 year old males. For 33 year old females, for example, Denmark has the highest proportion of citizens with a desirable BMI (some 80 % have a BMI < 25). Hence, the observed BMI prevalence for this age/sex group is used for the corresponding age/sex group in the best practice counterfactual. Often one or two countries provide most observations for a given risk factor/sex combination. For example, for the best practice BMI prevalence for females all values above age 30 are taken from Denmark as those have the highest proportion of females with a BMI < 25. In the case of alcohol, for example, the worst practice counterfactual for males is identical to the observed prevalence of the UK.