Health and Medicine: Where the United States Stands in the World

Health and Medicine Around the World

This slideshow steps through five health indicators, one frame each: health spending as a share of GDP, spending per person, physicians, infant mortality and hospital beds. Every frame draws on World Bank World Development Indicators data and shows the ranking of countries, the value and rank for the United States, and how the US series has moved over time. The wording is written from the same figures shown in the charts.

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Health spending (% of GDP)	3	The US spends 16.69% of GDP on health, 3rd of 193 countries
Health spending per person	1	US health spending per person is 13,473 USD, 1st of 193 countries
Physicians per 1,000 people	39	The US has 3.681 physicians per 1,000 people, 39th of 208 countries
Infant mortality rate	54	US infant mortality is 5.5 per 1,000 live births, 54th of 196 countries
Hospital beds per 1,000 people	86	The US has 2.68 hospital beds per 1,000 people, 86th of 201 countries

Read each frame on its own: the bar chart gives the spread across countries, the highlighted bar is the United States, and the trend line shows its own series over time. Do not compare ranks or values across frames — the units differ, the number of countries covered ranges from 193 to 208, and the latest year is not the same for every indicator.

Key Points

The United States sits at one extreme of nearly every spending measure in this collection and much closer to the middle on the outcomes and capacity measures. Its most striking figure is health spending per person: 13,473 USD, first out of 193 countries and more than ten times the world value of 1,317 USD. Health spending is 16.69% of GDP, third of 193 countries, against a world value of 10.02%. Yet the country ranks 54th of 196 on infant mortality at 5.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, 39th of 208 on physicians at 3.681 per 1,000 people, and 86th of 201 on hospital beds at 2.68 per 1,000 people — so the top-of-the-table position on money is not repeated on the other indicators here.

*Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, SP.DYN.IMRT.IN, SH.MED.PHYS.ZS, SH.MED.BEDS.ZS).*

The Latest Value of the Lead Indicator

The lead indicator is current health expenditure as a share of GDP. The United States records 16.6941%, ranking 3rd among 193 countries, with the most recent data point in the series running to 2023 and the indicator carrying a latest year of 2024. The world value for the same indicator is 10.0163%, so the US figure is about 6.68 percentage points above it — roughly 1.7 times the world share. Only Tuvalu (27.09%) and Nauru (18.21%) are higher. Unlike most indicators in this set, where the US is somewhere inside the upper or middle band, this is a position at the very front of the distribution.

*Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — Current health expenditure (% of GDP), SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS.*

Who Is at the Top and at the Bottom

On health spending as a share of GDP the top of the table is a mixed group: Tuvalu 27.09%, Nauru 18.21%, the United States 16.69%, Afghanistan 14.99%, the Marshall Islands 13.41%, Liberia 13.01%, Micronesia 12.88% and Lesotho 12.61%, with Germany 12.27%, Austria 11.83% and Switzerland 11.69% close behind. High-income countries appear alongside small island economies and aid-dependent economies, because the measure is a ratio to GDP and a small or contracted denominator pushes the share up. The bottom of the table is Laos 1.33%, Bangladesh 2.17%, Brunei 2.23%, Guyana 2.47%, Djibouti 2.28%, Pakistan 2.52% and Qatar 2.52% — and the presence of Brunei and Qatar there shows that a low share does not by itself indicate a low-income country. The United States is at the top end, but the countries immediately around it are not all economies of similar size.

For comparison, on hospital beds the US is at the other end of its own table: Monaco 21.99, the U.S. Virgin Islands 18.68, Greenland 14.35, South Korea 12.81, North Korea 12.80 and Japan 12.59 lead, while Chad 0.15, Burkina Faso 0.20 and Mali 0.25 close it, and the US sits 86th of 201 at 2.68.

*Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — Current health expenditure (% of GDP), SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS; Hospital beds (per 1,000 people), SH.MED.BEDS.ZS.*

How It Has Changed Over the Past Decade

The US share of GDP spent on health moved from 16.12% in 2012 to 16.69% in 2023, with a peak of 18.52% in 2020 followed by 17.35% in 2021 and 16.53% in 2022 — a rise and partial return rather than a steady climb. Spending per person rose in every year shown, from 8,262 USD in 2012 to 13,473 USD in 2023; these are current US dollar figures, so the change reflects the currency basis as well as underlying spending, and the two should not be separated using this data alone.

Infant mortality moved from 5.9 per 1,000 in 2013 to 5.5 in 2019 and has stayed at 5.5 through 2024. Hospital beds fell from 2.94 per 1,000 in 2011 to 2.68 in 2022, a decline of 0.26. Physicians per 1,000 people rose from 1.8 in 1990 to 2.596 in 2000 and 3.681 in 2022, though the series has gaps between 2004 and 2018 and a step between 2018 (2.548) and 2019 (3.482) that may reflect a change in how the figure is compiled rather than an actual jump.

*Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, SP.DYN.IMRT.IN, SH.MED.BEDS.ZS, SH.MED.PHYS.ZS.*

Compared with Comparable Countries

Against other large high-income economies, the spending gap is wide and the capacity gap runs the other way. On share of GDP, the US 16.69% compares with Germany 12.27% (4.43 points lower), France 11.54%, the UK 11.13%, Japan 10.74%, South Korea 8.68% and China 5.94%. Per person, the US 13,473 USD compares with Germany 6,849 USD (about 2.0 times), the UK 5,860 USD (about 2.3 times), France 5,327 USD, Japan 3,638 USD (about 3.7 times) and China 763 USD.

On physicians the ordering changes: the US 3.681 per 1,000 is below Germany 4.534 but above the UK 3.301, France 3.281, China 3.112, Japan 2.649 and South Korea 2.61. On hospital beds the US 2.68 per 1,000 is the second lowest of this group, above only the UK 2.42, and below France 5.65, China 5.63, Germany 7.55, Japan 12.59 and South Korea 12.81 — about a fifth of the Japanese figure. On infant mortality the US 5.5 per 1,000 is the highest of the group, compared with the UK 4.1, China 4.1, France 3.4, Germany 3.1, South Korea 2.3 and Japan 1.8.

*Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, SH.MED.PHYS.ZS, SH.MED.BEDS.ZS, SP.DYN.IMRT.IN.*

How to Read These Numbers

A share of GDP depends on its denominator, so a small economy or one that has contracted can show a high figure without that saying anything about services available; Tuvalu at 27.09%, Afghanistan at 14.99% and Liberia at 13.01% appear near the top for reasons that are unlikely to be the same as one another. Spending per person is in current US dollars, so exchange-rate movements affect both cross-country comparison and the year-to-year series. Hospital bed counts differ by country in how long-term care and psychiatric beds are treated, and a higher count does not in itself indicate better care. Physician counts may be defined as practising clinicians or as licence-holders depending on the country, and the reference year varies.

The number of countries covered varies by indicator, from 193 to 208, and the latest year runs from 2023 to 2024, so ranks from different indicators are not directly comparable and a change in rank cannot be read across indicators. Some entries in the top lists are not sovereign countries — the U.S. Virgin Islands, Greenland and CHI appear in the hospital-bed table. Nothing here establishes a link between the amount spent and the health outcomes recorded; these are separate series, updated roughly once a year and subject to revision.

*Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, SH.MED.PHYS.ZS, SH.MED.BEDS.ZS, SH.MED.BEDS.ZS, SP.DYN.IMRT.IN.*

Health spending (% of GDP) on the map and in charts

The table runs from Tuvalu 27.09% and Nauru 18.21% at the top down to Laos 1.33% and Bangladesh 2.17% at the bottom. The United States sits third, among small island economies rather than among economies of its own size.

The bars show high-income and low-income countries mixed at both ends, because this is a ratio to GDP. The US line rose from 16.12% in 2012 to a peak of 18.52% in 2020, then settled at 16.69% in 2023.

Compare countries

Health spending per person

The top of the table is the United States 13,473 USD, Switzerland 11,784 USD and Liechtenstein 11,495 USD; the bottom is Madagascar 17 USD and Sudan 21 USD. The gap between the two ends of this table is the widest of any indicator here.

The bars fall away steeply below the leading few countries. The US line rises in every year shown, from 8,262 USD in 2012 to 13,473 USD in 2023 — figures in current US dollars, so exchange rates are part of that movement.

Physicians per 1,000 people

Cuba 9.542, Monaco 8.609 and Seychelles 6.598 head the table, while Niger 0.038 and South Sudan 0.041 close it. The United States is 39th, inside the top fifth but well behind the leaders.

The bar chart shows a long tail of countries below 1 physician per 1,000. The US line runs from 1.8 in 1990 to 3.681 in 2022, with gaps in the series and a step between 2018 (2.548) and 2019 (3.482).

Infant mortality rate

The lowest rates are San Marino 1.2, Estonia 1.5, Belarus 1.8 and Japan 1.8; the highest are South Sudan 71.9 and Nigeria 69.8. The United States is 54th, in the lower band but above Germany 3.1, France 3.4 and the UK 4.1.

The bars separate a cluster of countries below 5 from a long upper tail. The US line eased from 5.9 in 2013 to 5.5 in 2019 and has held at 5.5 through 2024.

Hospital beds per 1,000 people

Monaco 21.99, the U.S. Virgin Islands 18.68 and Greenland 14.35 top the table, with Chad 0.15 and Burkina Faso 0.20 at the bottom. The United States is 86th at 2.68, just above the UK 2.42 and far below Germany 7.55.

The bars show a wide spread, with the leading countries several times the world value of 3.29. The US line declines steadily from 2.94 in 2011 to 2.68 in 2022, a fall of 0.26.