Population, Midyear 2022: 10,493,986
Population Density (Number of Persons per Square Kilometer): 135.93
Life Expectancy at Birth, 2022: 78.13
Infant Mortality, 2022 (per 1,000 live births): 2.35
Under-Five Mortality Rate, 2022 (per 1,000 live births): 2.87
Projected Population, Midyear 2030: 10,515,199
Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2022: 20.64%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2030: 21.65%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2050: 26.14%
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.
Population Insurance Coverage For A Core Set Of Healthcare Services (%) (2019):
Public Coverage: 100%; Primary Private Health Coverage: 0%; Total: 100%
Note: “Population coverage for health care is defined here as the share of the population eligible for a core set of health care services – whether through public programmes or primary private health insurance. The set of services is country-specific but usually includes consultations with doctors, tests and examinations, and hospital care. Public coverage includes both national health systems and social health insurance. On national health systems, most of the financing comes from general taxation, whereas in social health insurance systems, financing typically comes from a combination of payroll contributions and taxation. Financing is linked to ability-to-pay. Primary private health insurance refers to insurance coverage for a core set of services, and can be voluntary or mandatory by law (for some or all of the population.”)”
Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.
Total Health Spending, USD PPP Per Capita (2020): $3,805.14
(Note: “Health spending measures the final consumption of health care goods and services (i.e. current health expenditure) including personal health care (curative care, rehabilitative care, long-term care, ancillary services and medical goods) and collective services (prevention and public health services as well as health administration), but excluding spending on investments. Health care is financed through a mix of financing arrangements including government spending and compulsory health insurance (“Government/compulsory”) as well as voluntary health insurance and private funds such as households’ out-of-pocket payments, NGOs and private corporations (“Voluntary”). This indicator is presented as a total and by type of financing (“Government/compulsory”, “Voluntary”, “Out-of-pocket”) and is measured as a share of GDP, as a share of total health spending and in USD per capita (using economy-wide PPPs).”
Source: OECD (2023), Health spending (indicator). doi: 10.1787/8643de7e-en (Accessed on 24 May 2023).
Current Health Expenditure As Percentage Of Gross Domestic Product, 2020: 9.24%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Current health expenditure (CHE) as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed May 14, 2023.
Current Health Expenditure Per Capita in USD, 2020: $2,120
Source: Global Health Observatory. Current health expenditure (CHE) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed May 13, 2023.
Out-Of-Pocket Expenditure As Percentage Of Current Health Expenditure, 2020: 11.53%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed May 13, 2023.
Out-Of-Pocket Expenditure Per Capita in USD, 2020: $244.3
Source: Global Health Observatory. Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed May 13, 2023.
Annual household out-of-pocket payment in current USD per capita, 2020: $244
Source: Global Health Expenditure Database. Health expenditure series. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed May 13, 2023.
Out-of-Pocket Spending as Share of Final Household Consumption (%) (2019): 2.4%
Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.
Life Expectancy at Birth (2019): 79.1
Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births) (2017): 3
Neonatal Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births) (2020): 2
Probability of Dying from any of Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Diseases Between Age 30 and Exact Age 70 (%) (2019): 14.3%
Source: World health statistics 2022: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development
goals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Remuneration of Doctors, Ratio to Average Wage (2019)
General Practitioners: NA
Specialists: 2.4
Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.
Remuneration of Hospital Nurses, Ratio to Average Wage (2019): 1.3
Remuneration of Hospital Nurses, USD PPP (2019): $36,600
Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.
“Since the early 1990s, Czechia has had a system of social health insurance (SHI), heavily regulated by the government. Seven public health insurance funds currently act as payers and purchasers of care. However, the market is concentrated: the largest health insurance fund (VZP) insures 56 % of the population. Competition between funds is limited. Health insurance is compulsory, and health care access virtually universal. All Czechs enjoy a broad benefits package, but the health insurance funds may differ in additional services offered to those insured (such as payment contributions for non-mandatory immunisations).
“The Ministry of Health is the key regulatory body in charge of setting health care policy, supervising the system and running several health care providers; it was also the leading authority during the COVID-19 crisis (Box 2). It oversees and works closely with its subsidiary bodies: the National Institute of Public Health, the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, the State Institute for Drug Control and the regional public health authorities – all of which gained in importance during the pandemic.
“Many providers are owned by the state (including most teaching hospitals and specialised centres), the regions or municipalities.”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Czechia: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
“The health system in Czechia has three main organizational features:
“1. SHI [Statutory Health Insurance] with virtually universal membership and a broad benefits package, funded primarily through compulsory, wage-based contributions and government transfers from general taxes;
“2. Diversity of provision, with outpatient care providers (mainly private)and hospitals (mainly publicly owned, with different legal forms)contracted by HIFs [Health Insurance Funds]; and
“3. Joint negotiations by key actors within defined segments of care and reimbursement issues, supervised by the government.
“The universal accessibility of health care is stipulated by legislation, particularly the Health Insurance Act (Zákon o veřejném zdravotním pojištění 48/1997 Sb). Membership in one of seven HIFs is compulsory for all Czech citizens residing in the country, including the self-employed, as well as for permanent residents of Czechia and foreigners employed by companies based in Czechia. HIFs compete for insured individuals through a variety of supplementary benefits to the standard benefits package. In setting the health policy agenda, the Ministry of Health (Ministerstvo zdravotnictví, MZČR) and its agencies are the most influential, together with HIFs and – to a lesser extent – professional associations (see Fig.2.1).”
Source: Bryndová L, Šlegerová L, Votápková J, Hrobonˇ P, Shuftan N, Spranger A. Czechia: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2023; 25(1): i–183.
“The Ministry of Health is the central administrative body for health system stewardship, and its responsibilities include ensuring the protection of public health; licensing health professionals (including dentists); defining networks of highly specialized care centres; administering and regulating health care facilities under its direct management; exploring and regulating natural curative sources (for example, spas and natural mineral waters) and supervision (jointly with the Ministry of Finance). Czechia’s 14 regions play a major role via their ownership of health facilities and for registering private facilities. In addition, regions also coordinate emergency care directly and their planning capacities have been strengthened for instance via Regional Healthcare Concepts to address relevant issues within their regions. In addition, the seven health insurance funds (HIFs) have a major role in financing statutory health insurance (SHI) contributions and contracting a network of providers to comply with the care accessibility requirements (time and distance) set by law.
“The principles of free patient choice, high financial protection and universal membership with one of the HIFs remain the core of the Czech SHI system. Compulsory membership for all Czech citizens residing in the country, including the self-employed, as well as for permanent residents of Czechia and most other foreign residents, results in near universal coverage. Moreover, a large portion of the population is exempt from paying SHI contributions due to being classified as “economically inactive” (including students, pensioners and the unemployed).
“The range of benefits covered by SHI in Czechia is very broad and includes inpatient and outpatient care, prescription pharmaceuticals, some dental procedures, rehabilitation, spa treatments and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals (the last three if prescribed by a physician) and long-term care when provided in hospitals. Due to this broad coverage, voluntary health insurance plays only a marginal role.”
Source: Bryndová L, Šlegerová L, Votápková J, Hrobonˇ P, Shuftan N, Spranger A. Czechia: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2023; 25(1): i–183.
“Participation in publicly financed health coverage is compulsory for all permanent residents and people working in the Czech Republic. Health insurance funds are autonomous public organizations that collect contributions from their members and purchase health services on their behalf. The largest public insurer is the General Health Insurance Fund of the Czech Republic, which enrols about half of the population. Seven other health insurance funds cover the rest of the population. The government pays contributions on behalf of economically inactive people (children, students, unemployed people and pensioners).
“Migrants from outside the EU who are not employed (children, pensioners, students or the self-employed) are excluded from publicly financed health coverage. The law requires that they are covered by their home country or purchase private health insurance covering basic health care benefits.
“Before 2008, people only paid user charges for prescription medicines. In 2008, the government introduced the following user charges: Czech koruna (CZK) 30 (about €1.2; the average exchange rate in 2008 was €1=CZK 25) for each outpatient visit; CZK 30 (€1.2) for each item on a prescription (changed to CZK 30 per prescription in 2012); CZK 60 (€2.4) per inpatient day (raised to CZK 100 in 2011); and CZK 90 (€3.6) for emergency services. There is a yearly cap on some user charges.”
Source: Martin Dlouhy. “Czech Republic.” In Voluntary health insurance in Europe: Country experience [Internet]. Sagan A, Thomson S, editors. Copenhagen (Denmark): European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2016. Observatory Studies Series, No. 42.
“VHI [Voluntary Health Insurance] plays two roles: a substitutive role for nonemployed foreigners (migrants) from non-EU countries and a supplementary role providing access to above-standard hospital rooms and dental services. In addition, insurers offer (under the misleading name of private health insurance) policies that cover cash benefits in case of illness or hospital admission. There are also insurance policies that cover the costs of acute care abroad for people travelling outside the EU. These types of policies are not described here.
“The role of substitutive private health insurance for foreigners has increased as the number of migrant workers from non-EU countries has grown – for example, in October 2012, there were 104 438 migrants from Ukraine and 56 623 from Vietnam (Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, 2015) – and with stricter control of the possession of health insurance by immigration police. A valid health insurance policy is a legal requirement for a long-term residence permit. The number of migrants with private health insurance is not known and there are many foreigners who do not have either public or private health insurance. These people usually work without a formal job contract.”
Source: Martin Dlouhy. “Czech Republic.” In Voluntary health insurance in Europe: Country experience [Internet]. Sagan A, Thomson S, editors. Copenhagen (Denmark): European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2016. Observatory Studies Series, No. 42.
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Page last updated August 4, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.
