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, the health care system in Finland ranked first with a care index score of ****, followed by Belgium and Japan. Care systems index score is measured using multiple indicators from various public databases, it evaluates the capacity of a health system to treat and cure diseases and illnesses, once it is detected in the population This statistic shows the care systems ranking of countries worldwide in 2023, by their index score.

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.

The healthcare ranking reflects the quality of health care and access to health services in different countries. The assessment includes various factors such as life expectancy, access to medical services, healthcare funding, and technologies.

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 2023, Singapore ranked first with a health index score of ****, 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.

In the health index 2023, Singapore ranked first with a score of ****, followed by Japan and South Korea. Afghanistan had a health index score of **** that year. 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.

Dominance analysis rankings service coverage indicators based as predictors of UHC SCI score, stratified by World Bank country ranking.

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.

Non-expenditure healthcare data provide information on institutions providing healthcare in countries, on resources used and on output produced in the framework of healthcare provision.

Data on healthcare form a major element of public health information as they describe the capacities available for different types of healthcare provision as well as potential 'bottlenecks' observed. The quantity and quality of healthcare services provided and the work sharing established between the different institutions are a subject of ongoing debate in all countries. Sustainability - continuously providing the necessary monetary and personal resources needed - and meeting the challenges of ageing societies are the primary perspectives used when analysing and using the data.

The resource-related data refer to both human and technical resources, i.e. they relate to:

• Health care staff: 'manpower' active in the health care sector (doctors, dentists, nurses, etc.);
• Heath workforce migration: migration movements of doctors and nurses;
• Healthcare facilities: technical capacity dimensions (hospital beds, beds in nursing and residential care facilities, etc.).

The output-related data ('activities') refer to contacts between patients and the healthcare system, and to the treatment thereby received. Data are available for hospital discharges of in-patients and day cases, average length of stay of in-patients, consultations with medical professionals, and medical procedures performed in hospitals.

Annual national and regional data are provided in absolute numbers, percentages, and in population-standardised rates (per 100 000 inhabitants).

Wherever applicable, the definitions and classifications of the System of Health Accounts (SHA) are followed, e.g. International Classification for Health Accounts - Providers of health care (ICHA-HP). For hospital discharges, the International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation (ISHMT) is used. Surgical procedures are classified according to a shortlist mapped to ICD-9-CM.

These healthcare data are largely based on administrative data sources in the countries. Therefore, they reflect the country-specific way of organising healthcare and may not always be completely comparable.

Non-expenditure healthcare data provide information on institutions providing healthcare in countries, on resources used and on output produced in the framework of healthcare provision.

Data on healthcare form a major element of public health information as they describe the capacities available for different types of healthcare provision as well as potential 'bottlenecks' observed. The quantity and quality of healthcare services provided and the work sharing established between the different institutions are a subject of ongoing debate in all countries. Sustainability - continuously providing the necessary monetary and personal resources needed - and meeting the challenges of ageing societies are the primary perspectives used when analysing and using the data.

The resource-related data refer to both human and technical resources, i.e. they relate to:

• Health care staff: 'manpower' active in the health care sector (doctors, dentists, nurses, etc.);
• Heath workforce migration: migration movements of doctors and nurses;
• Healthcare facilities: technical capacity dimensions (hospital beds, beds in nursing and residential care facilities, etc.).

The output-related data ('activities') refer to contacts between patients and the healthcare system, and to the treatment thereby received. Data are available for hospital discharges of in-patients and day cases, average length of stay of in-patients, consultations with medical professionals, and medical procedures performed in hospitals.

Annual national and regional data are provided in absolute numbers, percentages, and in population-standardised rates (per 100 000 inhabitants).

Wherever applicable, the definitions and classifications of the System of Health Accounts (SHA) are followed, e.g. International Classification for Health Accounts - Providers of health care (ICHA-HP). For hospital discharges, the International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation (ISHMT) is used. Surgical procedures are classified according to a shortlist mapped to ICD-9-CM.

These healthcare data are largely based on administrative data sources in the countries. Therefore, they reflect the country-specific way of organising healthcare and may not always be completely comparable.

Non-expenditure healthcare data provide information on institutions providing healthcare in countries, on resources used and on output produced in the framework of healthcare provision.

Data on healthcare form a major element of public health information as they describe the capacities available for different types of healthcare provision as well as potential 'bottlenecks' observed. The quantity and quality of healthcare services provided and the work sharing established between the different institutions are a subject of ongoing debate in all countries. Sustainability - continuously providing the necessary monetary and personal resources needed - and meeting the challenges of ageing societies are the primary perspectives used when analysing and using the data.

The resource-related data refer to both human and technical resources, i.e. they relate to:

• Health care staff: 'manpower' active in the health care sector (doctors, dentists, nurses, etc.);
• Heath workforce migration: migration movements of doctors and nurses;
• Healthcare facilities: technical capacity dimensions (hospital beds, beds in nursing and residential care facilities, etc.).

The output-related data ('activities') refer to contacts between patients and the healthcare system, and to the treatment thereby received. Data are available for hospital discharges of in-patients and day cases, average length of stay of in-patients, consultations with medical professionals, and medical procedures performed in hospitals.

Annual national and regional data are provided in absolute numbers, percentages, and in population-standardised rates (per 100 000 inhabitants).

Wherever applicable, the definitions and classifications of the System of Health Accounts (SHA) are followed, e.g. International Classification for Health Accounts - Providers of health care (ICHA-HP). For hospital discharges, the International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation (ISHMT) is used. Surgical procedures are classified according to a shortlist mapped to ICD-9-CM.

These healthcare data are largely based on administrative data sources in the countries. Therefore, they reflect the country-specific way of organising healthcare and may not always be completely comparable.

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.

In 2023, with just *** death per one thousand people, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were the countries with the lowest death rates worldwide. This statistic shows a ranking of the 20 countries with the lowest death rates worldwide, as of 2023. 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 Nigeria, Chad, and Lesotho- 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.

BackgroundThe Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) is one of the most disaster-prone regions worldwide, and the frequency and intensity of disasters is expected to increase. We propose typologies of shocks considering healthcare resilience to examine how the risk of shocks varies across LAC and how previous shocks and their impacts in LAC fit into these categories.MethodsWe classify shocks into natural, anthropogenic and climate-related, and build on the literature to develop a 2×2 classification considering health care resilience and trust in government. Using the INFORM risk we categorize countries into risk groups considering indicators of governance and access to healthcare as proxies for trust in government and health care resilience, respectively. We discuss the 2×2 classification considering examples of health impacts of shocks, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of national responses, and use excess death ratios during the COVID-19 pandemic to demonstrate how health impacts correspond to the 2×2 typology.ResultsBased on the available literature, the proposed 2×2 classification reflects the recent consequences of shocks in LAC countries. Overall, areas where healthcare access and trust in government were weak had the most devastating impacts. However, strong access to healthcare is not a sufficient condition determining the impact of a shock, as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the most part, countries lack a detailed shock management plan.DiscussionCountries in the LAC region have historically been unprepared to manage shocks. In the absence of a comprehensive and multisectoral shock management plan, countries will continue to act in a reactive way, after a shock, as most of the examples discussed in our analysis illustrate. A shock management plan is an important step to build resilient health systems.

Non-expenditure healthcare data provide information on institutions providing healthcare in countries, on resources used and on output produced in the framework of healthcare provision.

Data on healthcare form a major element of public health information as they describe the capacities available for different types of healthcare provision as well as potential 'bottlenecks' observed. The quantity and quality of healthcare services provided and the work sharing established between the different institutions are a subject of ongoing debate in all countries. Sustainability - continuously providing the necessary monetary and personal resources needed - and meeting the challenges of ageing societies are the primary perspectives used when analysing and using the data.

The resource-related data refer to both human and technical resources, i.e. they relate to:

• Health care staff: 'manpower' active in the health care sector (doctors, dentists, nurses, etc.);
• Heath workforce migration: migration movements of doctors and nurses;
• Healthcare facilities: technical capacity dimensions (hospital beds, beds in nursing and residential care facilities, etc.).

The output-related data ('activities') refer to contacts between patients and the healthcare system, and to the treatment thereby received. Data are available for hospital discharges of in-patients and day cases, average length of stay of in-patients, consultations with medical professionals, and medical procedures performed in hospitals.

Annual national and regional data are provided in absolute numbers, percentages, and in population-standardised rates (per 100 000 inhabitants).

Wherever applicable, the definitions and classifications of the System of Health Accounts (SHA) are followed, e.g. International Classification for Health Accounts - Providers of health care (ICHA-HP). For hospital discharges, the International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation (ISHMT) is used. Surgical procedures are classified according to a shortlist mapped to ICD-9-CM.

These healthcare data are largely based on administrative data sources in the countries. Therefore, they reflect the country-specific way of organising healthcare and may not always be completely comparable.

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.

167 views (4 recent) Non-expenditure health care data provide information on institutions providing health care in countries, on resources used and on output produced in the framework of health care provision. Data on health care form a major element of public health information as they describe the capacities available for different types of health care provision as well as potential 'bottlenecks' observed. The quantity and quality of health care services provided and the work sharing established between the different institutions are a subject of ongoing debate in all countries. Sustainability - continuously providing the necessary monetary and personal resources needed - and meeting the challenges of ageing societies are the primary perspectives used when analysing and using the data. The output-related data ('activities') refer to contacts between patients and the health care system, and to the treatment thereby received. Data are available for hospital discharges of in-patients and day cases, average length of stay of in-patients and medical procedures performed in hospitals. Annual national and regional data are provided in absolute numbers and in population-standardised rates (per 100 000 inhabitants). Wherever applicable, the definitions and classifications of the System of Health Accounts (SHA) are followed, e.g. International Classification for Health Accounts - Providers of health care (ICHA-HP). For hospital discharges, the International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation (ISHMT) is used. Health care data on activities are largely based on administrative data sources in the countries. Therefore, they reflect the country-specific way of organising health care and may not always be completely comparable.

Comparing health care systems is important for several reasons. E.g. lower-resource health care systems can learn from higher-resource ones, and country-specific progress can be made. Previous rankings of health care systems have been based on objective factors such as the number of available hospital beds or health care spending. An index is considered here that includes a subjective level that is intended to represent access to the health care system. Therefore, this study investigates the divergence between subjective and objective indices related to health care expenditure, with a focus on the influence of involuntary and voluntary payments. Utilizing the Rational Choice Theory as a framework, it explores how individual preferences and perceived benefits affect these indices. The analysis reveals that social insurance contributions, which are mandatory and beyond individual control, are evaluated differently in subjective indices compared to objective indices. This discrepancy is less pronounced for voluntary expenditures, where individuals have decision-making power. The findings highlight significant variations in the correlations between macroeconomic health care indicators and the indices, emphasizing the critical role of autonomy in financial decisions related to health care.

A key set of information for policy analysis is i) how much revenue is collected; ii) in what ways is it collected; iii) from which institutional units of the economy are revenues raised for each particular financing scheme; and iv) which financing schemes receive those revenues. This dataset provides information about the contribution mechanisms the particular financing schemes use to raise their revenues. Understanding the nature of the flows is of importance from the perspective of both health and public finance policy. For example, the classification of revenues make it possible to distinguish between public and private funding of health care finance. Understanding how resources are raised by financing schemes is important for many countries, as many health systems are struggling with the issue of funding. The classification of revenues of financing schemes is suitable for tracking the collection mechanisms of a financing framework. Furthermore, the new classification makes it possible to analyse the contribution of the institutional units to health financing.