Healthcare Mapped

Healthcare Mapped: World Healthcare Systems Ranked

Healthcare systems differ globally, with some offering high-quality services for free while others can lead to significant medical bills. But does paying for healthcare guarantee better service, or are free systems just as reliable?

Here at Radar Healthcare, we are committed to supporting healthcare providers with bespoke access to our pioneering software that’s designed to save valuable time by automating arduous administrative tasks, as well as quality and compliance processes. Our goal is to give those working in the health industry time back to improve patient safety and overall healthcare systems, and we are also passionate about creating a culture of learning and improvement, rather than blame.

Which Healthcare systems Around the World are the Best for Patient Care and Costs?

With this in mind, we have taken a seed list of the 33 developed countries, and using the available information in each nation, have considered factors such as quality of healthcare, annual yearly salaries, number of hospitals, and the total number of healthcare costs per year.

These statistics have allowed us to determine our own ranking of the countries offering the best healthcare systems around the globe, allowing us to highlight how some simple improvements can really make a difference – and our results may just surprise you.

Ranked: The Best Healthcare Systems Around the World

Which Countries Are Spending the Most Funds on Healthcare?

1. 🇯🇵 Japan: Japan scored 78.5/100 overall, with a high quality of healthcare rating (9.5/10). Despite its large population, the compulsory healthcare cost per person is relatively low at £3,725 annually.

2. 🇩🇪 Germany: Germany scored 73.5/100, excelling in human development (9/10) and voluntary healthcare costs (£796 per year), reflecting a well-rounded system.

3. 🇦🇺 Australia: Australia scored 71.5/100, with a notable human development score (8.5/10) and a balanced healthcare cost vs. salary ratio, where 3.15% of the average salary (£38,889.91) goes towards healthcare.

🇬🇧 Where did the UK place? The UK ranked 7th, with a commendable score of 69.5/100, considering its high population density and recent NHS challenges.

Revealing the Best Countries Around the Globe for Quality of Care

Which Healthcare Systems Around the World Provide the Best Quality of Care?

1. 🇰🇷 South Korea: South Korea led in quality of care with a score of 82.72, boasting excellent hospital availability (4,133 hospitals for 51.3 million people).

2. 🇯🇵 Japan: Japan also excelled in quality of care with 80.49/100, supported by 8,300 hospitals and a high innovation ranking.

3. 🇫🇷 France: France scored 80.18 for quality of care, maintaining a good balance of healthcare costs and hospital numbers.

🇬🇧 Where did the UK place? The UK placed 13th in quality of care, scoring 74.83/100, outperforming Germany, New Zealand, and the USA.

Healthcare Costs: Revealing the most and least cost-effective countries for healthcare

Revealing the Voluntary and Out Of Pocket Costs for Healthcare Per Year (Per Person) Around the World

1. 🇱🇺 Luxembourg: Luxembourg had the best cost-effectiveness, with healthcare costing only 1.54% of the average annual salary (£38,171.97).

2. 🇮🇸 Iceland: Iceland followed with healthcare costs at 2.03% of the average annual salary (£31,908.46).

Least Cost-Effective:

🇬🇷 Greece: Greece had a disappointing cost-effectiveness of 9.83%, reflecting its ongoing economic struggles.

🇬🇧 Where did the UK place? The UK ranked 9th in cost-effectiveness, with 2.77% of the average salary (£27,591.21) spent on healthcare.

The countries boasting the most impressive hospitals vs population ratios around the world

Which Countries Boast the Most Impressive Hospitals vs Population Ratios Around the World?

1. 🇰🇷 South Korea: South Korea had the best hospital-to-population ratio, with 0.81% of the population catered by 4,133 hospitals.

2. 🇯🇵 Japan: Japan, with 8,300 hospitals for 125.6 million people, scored 0.66%.

3. 🇦🇺 Australia: Australia, with 1,339 hospitals for 26.1 million people, scored 0.51%.

🇬🇧 Where did the UK place? The UK, with a 0.29% ratio, highlighted the need for more hospitals to match its population.

What can the UK do to improve their healthcare system further in order to compete with other countries around the world? 

Chloe Weatherhead, Head of Customer Experience at Radar Healthcare says:

“Overall, there are numerous factors that have an impact on the efficiency of healthcare systems across the globe, such as financial and humanitarian crises, high population density, low salaries, and so on. 

“The huge steps that have been made, with regards to healthcare related technology innovation within the last few years alone, is already having a hugely positive impact on quality and safety, and improving outcomes and overall experiences for all kinds of patients. 

“Learning and taking inspiration from impressive international healthcare systems, such as those found in Japan, could certainly be a wise move for those wary of embracing ever-evolving technological advancements. Ultimately, the best way to tackle the ongoing challenges healthcare systems around the globe continue to face is to drive improvements by learning from one another. 

“When it comes to the UK in particular, it’s reasonable to note that it could be beneficial to focus on upgrading different technological processes, such as making it possible to manage compliance systems and quality checks all in one place. 

“It’s also worth noting how access to national health-related data can have a hugely significant learning impact. For example, the new LFPSE (Learn from patient safety events) service – which are currently in the final stages of development – will act to give healthcare workers a more holistic and wider view of national data, in order to see what’s working well and what’s not up and down the UK. 

“At Radar Healthcare, we pride ourselves on our ability to condense the workloads of those in medical professions, allowing them to work smarter – not harder. It is also of the utmost importance to us that those using our services are in the mindset of wanting to take the opportunity to learn and grown, rather than live in fear of blame of repercussions, as this is completely detrimental to improvement in the healthcare industry.” 

Methodology and data sources: 

The Healthcare Mapped Report by the experts at Radar Healthcare discovers which healthcare systems around the world are leading the way for the quality of care and affordability of their healthcare systems.

Taking a seed list of the top 33 most developed countries around the world, the report discovers how different healthcare systems around the world they differ and compare to determine which countries are leading the way for their healthcare systems, by using the following metrics: 

1. Human Development Index Score – A figure that measures the average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living
2. Quality of Healthcare – Healthcare Index – a figure highlighting the overall quality of the health care system, health care professionals, equipment, staff, doctors, and cost
3. Total Average Healthcare Costs Per Year (Per Person) – including voluntary/government/compulsory spending (£)
4. Average Healthcare Costs Per Year (Per Person) – Voluntary/Out of Pocket Costs (£)
5. Average Annual Salary (£)
6. Healthcare vs Annual Salary – (% of annual income spent on healthcare)
7. Number of Hospitals
8. Hospitals vs Population – Percentage ratio of the total number of hospitals compared to each country’s population 
9. Healthcare Expenditure as a share of GDP
10. Which countries are the most innovative? – total score of how innovative each country is based on research and development, gross value added by manufacturing, productivity, high-tech company density, researcher concentration, tertiary efficiency, and patent activity.

Sources:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/developed-countries 

https://hdr.undp.org/en/indicators/137506 

https://www.numbeo.com/health-care/rankings_by_country.jsp 

https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm 

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107086/total-hospital-number-select-countries-worldwide/ 

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD 

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-innovative-countries