Loading ...Finding which countries have great healthcare systems is no easy task, but our new article “Finding the Best Healthcare Systems in the World” will help you sort it all out.
We took a look at a number of studies and also spoke with Wake Forest University Economic Professor Michael Lawlor, an expert on global healthcare systems, to help you determine how to judge the quality and efficiency of healthcare in your new country.
Lawlor said, “Quality of healthcare is difficult to judge and is subjective to individual tastes.” That’s part of the problem. We all have different standards. What is acceptable to me may not be to you.
That’s why we wanted to give you several different points of view to help you draw your own conclusions. For a general overview, we first looked at the only study that ranked the world’s healthcare systems, which was done by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a great, comprehensive view of healthcare systems in 191 countries. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it was done in 2000, although it is still frequently quoted because no other comprehensive study covering that many countries has been done. Btw, France topped the list of best healthcare systems then.
WHO has followed up, though, with a 2013 study of 194 countries that provides a comprehensive look at nine key barometers of healthcare.
Several other studies provide additional recent information to help you decide.
The Commonwealth Fund looked in-depth at 14 countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, all leading relocation destinations.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study is several years old, but provides an excellent report on the key indicators of health and healthcare systems for all its 34 OECD member countries.
Finally, the World Bank’s HealthStats portal is a great source for healthcare statistics and general information for all of the organization’s 188 member countries.
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