Health systems compared

One world, one source

From $30 to $13,473 a person: the highest spends 442 times the lowest.

Spending: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided. Free care: each country’s own law, as its page cites it. Years lived: World Health Organization, World Health Statistics, 2021 figures, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided. Map: Natural Earth.

1 of 10

Who spends most on health?

2023Share of GDP

16.7%the most: United Statesthe least: Pakistan, 2.5%

From 2.5% to 16.7% of GDP; the middle of these countries, 10.6%, about $10.60 of every $100 a country earns.

The middle: 10.6%The middle: $5,851

Slide a finger or the pointer across the columns.

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided; dollars a person: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided.

2 of 10

Where is care free for everyone?

Free for everyone

2 of 10free to use, for everyone6 more: small capped fees

Free to use for everyone in two of these countries; six more cover everyone with small capped fees.

Free to use, for everyone

Everyone covered, small capped fees

Partly covered

Not everyone covered

Free to use is not free for all care: where care is free at state hospitals, people can still pay much of the bill themselves at private clinics and pharmacies (who pays, next).

Each answer and its source

3 of 10

Of every 100 dollars, who pays?

2023Of $100, people pay

$55the most: Sri Lankathe least: United States, $11

People pay more than half the bill themselves in two of these countries; in the middle of these countries, 14.6 of every 100 dollars.

Tap a country to fill the bill

  • –Government
  • –People
  • –Others

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided; “others” (voluntary insurance, firms, charities, aid) is Dooram’s subtraction from 100.

What “government” counts

The WHO counts social security funds as government. Compulsory insurance bought from private insurers is counted under “others”.

4 of 10

How much care is covered?

2023Care covered

92 of 100the most: Canadathe least: Pakistan, 56

Scores run from 56 to 92 out of 100; eight of these countries score 85 or more.

87out of 100, the middle of these countries

A WHO score of how much essential care people get: mothers and children, infections, long illnesses and services.

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, UHC service coverage index, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

5 of 10

What do people pay themselves?

2023Paid themselves

$2,596a person, the most: Switzerlandthe least: Pakistan, $16

From $16 to $2,596 a person a year at the counter; the middle of these countries, $859.

= $200 a person pays in a year; a faint coin is part of one

Slide across the stacks.

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

Large bills, against a household’s budget

Looked, found nothing. The WHO's figures come from household surveys of different years, 1998 to 2024, none since 2010 for Germany or Norway, so there is no year for all of them. Not drawn.

6 of 10

How long do people live?

2021Years lived

84.5 yearsthe longest: Japanthe shortest: Pakistan, 66.0

Years lived run from 66.0 to 84.5; years in full health from 56.9 to 73.4.

Years in full health Years lived

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, World Health Statistics, 2021 figures, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

7 of 10

Who dies early of cancer and more?

2021Die before 70

1 in 4the most: Pakistanthe fewest: South Korea, 1 in 14

From 1 in 4 to 1 in 14 people aged 30 die before 70 of cancer, heart disease, diabetes or lung disease.

Worked out age by age, so a country with more old people does not look worse for it.

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, World Health Statistics, 2021 figures, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

Cancer on its own

The WHO's cancer death rate adjusted for age (aged 15 and over, 2019) was read once, in its data service; no second route found yet. The cancer agency's GLOBOCAN waits on permission. Not drawn.

8 of 10

Does more money buy more health?

Spending a person runs from $30 to $13,473, and years lived from 66.0 to 84.5; the longest lives are not where the most is spent.

60708090 $10$100$1,000$10,000

Touch or point at a dot to read it.

Up: years a newborn can expect to live. Across: spent on health a person, each step ten times more.

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided; years: World Health Organization, World Health Statistics, 2021 figures, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided.

What this does not show

Money is from 2023 and years from 2021. How long people live also depends on age, income, food, smoking, roads and much else; the picture sets the two side by side, it does not say one causes the other.

9 of 10

Your country against the middle

Follow or pick a country; either side can be any of them, or the middle.

vs
  1. –Free for everyone?Most: Everyone, small fees
  2. –Of the economy on health10.6%
  3. –Spent a person$5,851
  4. –Paid by people themselves14.6%
  5. –Care covered, of 10087
  6. –Die 30 to 70 of major illnesses1 in 10
  7. –Years lived81.6
  8. –Years in full health69.9

The middle is the median of each measure: half the countries are above it, half below.

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, UHC service coverage index, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, World Health Statistics, 2021 figures, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

10 of 10

Pick a country

Estimated Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, 2023, read 21 October 2026, with data each country provided

Dooram informs; it does not give medical or financial advice. Every figure names who published it and when.

Spot a wrong figure? Tell us