According to a 2021 health care systems ranking among selected high-income countries, the U.S. came last in the overall ranking of its health care system performance. The overall ranking was based on five performance categories, including access to care, care processes, administrative efficiency, equity, and health care outcomes. Among the top ranked countries were Norway, the Netherlands, and Australia, while Switzerland, Canada, and the United States were among the lowest ranked.

Administrative efficiency and costs Generally, in countries like Norway, Australia, and New Zealand, where a single-payer health system is in place, there is higher administrative efficiency and lower health administrative costs. The U.S. with its multi-payer system, on the other hand, generates extra bureaucratic tasks for both health care providers and the patients. In the U.S. an estimated 256 million U.S. dollars are wasted per year due to administrative complexity. Equity The United States, without universal health coverage, has expectedly large disparities in health care affordability based on income, as individuals with low income are often uninsured and must pay for all their health care out-of-pocket. These results are in line with the equity rankings of this report where the U.S. also came last. With the performance category equity, it is important to point out that the report focuses on income-related disparities. Other disparities based on ethnicity, gender, geography, and more have not been taken into consideration.

In 2023, Singapore dominated the ranking of the world's health and health systems, followed by Japan and South Korea. The health index score is calculated by evaluating various indicators that assess the health of the population, and access to the services required to sustain good health, including health outcomes, health systems, sickness and risk factors, and mortality rates. The health and health system index score of the top ten countries with the best healthcare system in the world ranged between 82 and 86.9, measured on a scale of zero to 100.

Global Health Security Index  Numerous health and health system indexes have been developed to assess various attributes and aspects of a nation's healthcare system. One such measure is the Global Health Security (GHS) index. This index evaluates the ability of 195 nations to identify, assess, and mitigate biological hazards in addition to political and socioeconomic concerns, the quality of their healthcare systems, and their compliance with international finance and standards. In 2021, the United States was ranked at the top of the GHS index, but due to multiple reasons, the U.S. government failed to effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The GHS Index evaluates capability and identifies preparation gaps; nevertheless, it cannot predict a nation's resource allocation in case of a public health emergency.

Universal Health Coverage Index  Another health index that is used globally by the members of the United Nations (UN) is the universal health care (UHC) service coverage index. The UHC index monitors the country's progress related to the sustainable developmental goal (SDG) number three. The UHC service coverage index tracks 14 indicators related to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, service capacity, and access to care. The main target of universal health coverage is to ensure that no one is denied access to essential medical services due to financial hardships. In 2021, the UHC index scores ranged from as low as 21 to a high score of 91 across 194 countries. 

In 2023, Norway ranked first with a health index score of 83, followed by Iceland and Sweden. The health index score is calculated by evaluating various indicators that assess the health of the population, and access to the services required to sustain good health, including health outcomes, health systems, sickness and risk factors, and mortality rates. The statistic shows the health and health systems ranking of European countries in 2023, by their health index score.

In 2025, South Africa had the highest health care index in Africa with a score of 63.8, followed by Kenya with 62 points. These scores, for both countries, are considered to be reasonably high. The health care index takes into account factors such as the overall quality of the health care system, health care professionals, equipment, staff, doctors, and cost.

Despite the fact that remote services were successfully implemented in most European social and health systems before 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented development of health and social care services provided in this form. This paper compares the readiness of patients to use the digital solutions in healthcare systems implemented in EU countries, in response to the current pandemic situation. In the study, technological, health insurance, and demographic variables were selected on the basis of substantive criteria. Next, the linear ordering method was applied to make a ranking of the analyzed countries according to the level of patients' readiness to use digital healthcare services. The main findings show that the Netherlands and Ireland are characterized by the highest level of patients' readiness for using remote healthcare services. On the other hand, Romania and Bulgaria are among the countries with the lowest readiness. The study also made it possible to group European countries according to the level of patients' preparedness.

In 2022, with just one death per one thousand people, Qatar was the country with the lowest death rate worldwide. This statistic shows a ranking of the 20 countries with the lowest death rates worldwide, as of 2022. Health in high-income countries Countries with the highest life expectancies are also often high-income countries with well-developed economic, social and health care systems, providing adequate resources and access to treatment for health concerns. Health care expenditure as a share of GDP varies per country; for example, spending in the United States is higher than in other OECD countries due to higher costs and prices for care services and products. In developed countries, the main burden of disease is often due to non-communicable diseases occurring in old age such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. High burden in low-income countries The countries with the lowest life expectancy worldwide are all in Africa- including Chad, Lesotho, and Nigeria- with life expectancies reaching up to 20 years shorter than the average global life expectancy. Leading causes of death in low-income countries include respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases, as these countries are often hit with the double burden of infectious diseases plus non-communicable diseases, such as those related to cardiovascular pathologies. Additionally, these countries often lack the resources and infrastructure to sustain effective healthcare systems and fail to provide appropriate access and treatment for their populations.

In 2023, Singapore ranked first with a health index score of 86.9, followed by Japan and South Korea. The health index measures the extent to which people are healthy and have access to the necessary services to maintain good health, including health outcomes, health systems, illness and risk factors, and mortality rates. The statistic shows the health and health systems ranking of countries worldwide in 2023, by their health index score.

According to a survey conducted in a selection of Latin American countries in 2024, Argentina was by far the country with the highest share of satisfied health patients, with 48 percent of respondents assessing healthcare quality as good or very good, whereas only 16 percent of respondents in Peru claimed to receive good healthcare. Hospitals in Latin America Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in São Paulo, Brazil was considered the hospital with the highest care quality in Latin America in 2022. The first three leading hospitals in hosting patients were also located in Brazil, ranking high along other healthcare facilities in Argentina, Colombia and Chile. In 2024, Brazil was the country with the highest number of hospitals in the region, with approximately 6,500 establishments, followed by Mexico and Colombia. Hospital equipment in Latin America As of 2023, more than 80 percent of hospitals in Latin America were equipped with electrocardiogram (EKG) machines. That year, ultrasound machines could be found in 71 percent of hospitals, while a fourth of these establishments in the region had computed tomography (CT) scanners. In that year, Brazil had the most ultrasound machines installed in hospitals in Latin America, with over 13,000, followed by Mexico and Argentina.

In 2021, Mexico was the Latin American country with the highest overall Global Health Security (GHS) Index score, with 57 points out of a total of 100. In comparison, the United States, the best-rated country worldwide, had a score of 75.9. The Global Health Security Index measures a country's readiness to prevent, detect and respond to biological threats.

According to the findings of a survey by IPSOS, satisfaction with national health systema varies widely between countries. Respondents from Saudia Arabia and Singapore are the most satisfied with their country's health system. This statistic shows the level of satisfaction with national health systems worldwide as of 2019, by country.

According to a hospital ranking carried out in 2022 and based on seven different dimensions, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein was considered the hospital with the highest care quality in Latin America. Located in São Paulo - Brazil, this health institution reached a quality index score of 93.46. Hospital Sírio-Libanês also located in Brazil, ranked second, with a score of 71.75. Latin American hospitals and their capacity to host patients When it comes to hosting patients, hospitals Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre located in Brazil, and Sanatorio Guemes based in Argentina, ranked among the leading hospitals in Latin America as of 2022. It was estimated that Brazil and Argentina were the two Latin American countries with the highest number of hospital beds in the region in 2020, with more than 448,000 and 234,000 hospital beds, respectively. Public opinion on healthcare quality It was also Argentina that had the highest share of satisfied patients among a selection of countries in Latin America according to a 2023 survey, with 50 percent of interviewees stating they had accessed a good or very good healthcare service. Colombian patients followed, with four out of ten people satisfied with the healthcare received. Accordingly, a recent study estimated that nearly half of the population in Argentina and Colombia distrusted the healthcare system, with approximately 47 percent and 50 percent of respondents claiming they trust the health systems in their respective countries.

The public and private per capita health expenditure differs significantly by country. As of 2023, the United States had by far the highest public per capita spending worldwide. Moreover, the U.S. had the second-highest private expenditure on health globally just after Switzerland. Health expenditures globally Health expenditures include the consumption of health goods, services and public health programs as well as insurance and government spending. Globally, health expenditures are on the rise. Among all countries the average per capita health expenditure is projected to see an increase of over 30 percent from the 2019 totals by the year 2050. Despite the growing expenditures, there are still countries with relatively low health expenditures. The countries with the lowest governmental health expenditure include South Sudan, Eritrea and Bangladesh. Health expenditures spotlight: the U.S. In 2021 the U.S. national health expenditure was at an all-time high. However, the projections indicate that total health expenditures will increase even more. The per capita health expenditures for the U.S. looked equally grim, with 2021 projected to be the most expensive year for health care on record. Despite having seen a significant increase in the total cost of health care in the U.S., trends indicate that the annual percentage change in health expenditures is decreasing over time.

In 2021, an index grading the access of dementia sufferers to medical care in ten European countries, ranked Sweden the highest with 73 points. Finland and Germany were regarded to have relatively good access with index scores of 66 and 63 respectively. On the hand, France had the lowest ranking in terms of access to dementia care.

In 2024, roughly half of individuals worldwide stated the quality of the healthcare they had access to in their country was good. The highest quality rating were given by people from Malaysia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, while individuals in Hungary, Poland, and Peru rated their country's healthcare quality most poorly. This statistic presents the percentage of adults in select countries worldwide who agreed that the quality of the healthcare they had access to in their country was good or poor as of 2024.

With over 6,500 medical centers, Brazil was the Latin American country with the highest number of hospitals in 2024, among the countries depicted. Mexico ranked second, with 3,587 hospitals. In 2022, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein was the leading hospital by quality in the South American country. Healthcare spending With an estimated 11 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) being spent on health, Cuba was the nation with the highest health expenditure share in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2020. Ranking second in this ranking along with Argentina, Brazil’s government spent more than 46 percent of its annual health expenditure on hospital and outpatient care. Meanwhile, in Chile, government spending on healthcare was, on average, about 1,679 U.S. dollars per person in 2021, which was more than the combined health expenditure from government and out-of-pocket spending in Mexico. Leading medical technology Including products such as diagnostic imaging, implants, and vaccines, nanomedicine has by far been Latin America’s most valuable medical technology, generating an estimated 19.36 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Furthermore, the revenue of nanomedicine in the region is expected to reach 37.45 billion U.S. dollars by 2027, representing an increase of more than 94 percent over a span of five years.More information by Global Health Intelligence on hospital infrastructure in various Latin American countries can be found here.

Among OECD member countries, the United States had the highest percentage of gross domestic product spent on health care as of 2023. The U.S. spent nearly 16 percent of its GDP on health care services. Germany, France and Japan followed the U.S. with distinctly smaller percentages. The United States had both significantly higher private and public spending on health compared with other developed countries. Why compare OECD countries?OECD stands for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. It is an economic organization consisting of 38 members, mostly high-income countries and committed to democratic principles and market economy. This makes OECD statistics more comparable than statistics of developed and undeveloped countries. Health economics is an important matter for the OECD, even more since increasing health costs and an aging population have become an issue for many developed countries. Health costs in the U.S.  A higher GDP share spent on health care does not automatically lead to a better functioning health system. In the case of the U.S., high spending is mainly because of higher costs and prices, not due to higher utilization. For example, physicians’ salaries are much higher in the U.S. than in other comparable countries. A doctor in the U.S. earns almost twice as much as the average physician in Germany. Pharmaceutical spending per capita is also distinctly higher in the United States. Furthermore, the U.S. also spends more on health administrative costs compare to other wealthy countries.

As of February 2025, the Hospital Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tennessee, was the largest health system in the United States, with a total of 222 hospitals. HCA Healthcare is also the largest U.S. health system when ranked by the number of beds and, as expected, by net patient revenue.Hospitals in the United StatesCurrently, there are approximately 6,120 hospitals in the United States. Looking over the past decades, this figure was constantly decreasing. For example, there were nearly 7,000 hospitals in 1980. There are some 5.3 million persons employed in U.S. hospitals in full-time. Contrary to the decrease in the number of hospitals, employment has been increasing steadily. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. hospitals generate a total gross output of around 1,075 billion U.S. dollars. The largest portion of U.S. hospitals are non-profit facilities. A smaller share includes private-owned for-profit hospitals. In most cases, these hospitals are part of hospital chains. For-profit hospitals developed especially in the 1990s, with the aim to gain profit for their shareholders. The Hospital Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the U.S. for-profit hospital operator with the highest number of hospitals.

Among OECD countries in 2022, South Korea had the highest rate of yearly visits to a doctor per capita. On average, people in South Korea visited the doctors 15.7 times per year in person. Health care utilization is an important indicator of the success of a country’s health care system. There are many factors that affect health care utilization including healthcare structure and the supply of health care providers.

OECD health systems

Healthcare systems globally include a variety of tools for accessing healthcare, including private insurance based systems, like in the U.S., and universal systems, like in the U.K. Health systems have varying costs among the OECD countries. Worldwide, Europe has the highest expenditures for health as a proportion of the GDP. Among all OECD countries, The United States had the highest share of government spending on health care. Recent estimates of current per capita health expenditures showed the United States also had, by far, the highest per capita spending on health worldwide.

Supply of health providers

Globally, the country with the highest physician density is Cuba, although most other countries with high number of physicians to population was found in Europe. The number of graduates of medicine impacts the number of available physicians in countries. Among OECD countries, Latvia had the highest rate of graduates of medicine, which was almost twice the rate of the OECD average.

The current healthcare spending in Argentina was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 9.2 billion U.S. dollars (+16.13 percent). After the fourth consecutive increasing year, the spending is estimated to reach 66.5 billion U.S. dollars and therefore a new peak in 2029. According to Worldbank health spending includes expenditures with regards to healthcare services and goods. The spending refers to current spending of both governments and consumers.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the current healthcare spending in countries like Chile and Paraguay.

The United States has the highest expenditure on health care per capita globally. However, the U.S. has an unique way of paying for their health care where a majority of the expenditure falls upon private insurances. In FY 2024, around one third of all health expenditure is paid by private insurance. Public insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid accounted for 22 and 17 percent, respectively, of health expenditure during that same year. U.S. health care system Globally health spending has been increasing among most countries. However, the U.S. has the highest public and private per capita health expenditure among all countries globally, followed by Switzerland. As of 2020, annual health care costs per capita in the United States totaled to over 12 thousand U.S. dollars, a significant amount considering the average U.S. personal income is around 54 thousand dollars. Out of pocket costs in the U.S. Aside from overall high health care costs for U.S. residents, the total out-of-pocket costs for health care have been on the rise. In recent years, the average per capita out-of-pocket health care payments have exceeded one thousand dollars. Physician services, dental services and prescription drugs account for the largest proportion of out-of-pocket expenditures for U.S. residents.