Hospital Beds Per 1,000 Population (2020): 5.73
Doctors Consultations (In All Settings) (Number Per Capita) (2020): 5
Hospital Average Length of Stay (All Causes) (2020): 9.1 Days
Computed Tomography Scanners (Per Million Population) (2020): 18.93
Magnetic Imaging Resonance Units (Per Million Population) (2020): 16.26

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD.Stat. Last accessed Jan. 13, 2023.

“At the end of 2011, there were 2,694 hospitals in France. Non-profit-making institutions accounted for 61% (35% public and 26% private sector) and 39% were private hospitals operated for profit (DREES, 2013c).

“The 947 public hospitals account for nearly two-thirds of inpatient beds (258,156 out of 414,395). There are three main types of public hospitals:

“• 33 regional hospitals (centres hospitaliers régionaux), with the highest level of specialization and the technical capacity to treat more complex cases; most are linked to universities and operate as teaching hospitals;

“• 802 general hospitals (centres hospitaliers), which account for the majority of short-term inpatient stays; among the general hospitals are ex-local hospitals, small community-level structures that fulfil a health and social care function, offering acute medical care, follow-up care and rehabilitation, and long-term care; and

“• 88 hospitals specializing in psychiatric care (centres hospitaliers spécialisés).

“There are also 24 other public establishments, primarily imaging and radiotherapy centres.”

Source: Chevreul K, Berg Brigham K, Durand-Zaleski I, Hernández-Quevedo C. France: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(3): 1–218.

“Private hospitals fall into two categories: non-profit-making or profitmaking. Non-profit-making hospitals are owned by foundations, religious organizations or mutual insurance associations. In 2011, they accounted for 26% of hospitals (700) and 14% of inpatient beds (11 778). Two-thirds of private non-profit-making hospitals perform public service duties such as emergency care, teaching and social programmes for deprived populations; they are known as “participants in public hospital service” (participant au service public hospitalier). Nineteen of them specialize in cancer treatment, with a broad remit that includes prevention, screening, treatment, teaching and research.

“The private profit-making sector plays an important role in the French health care system. The share of hospitals that are operated for profit is higher than in most developed countries: private profit-making hospitals accounted for 39% of all hospitals (1047) and 24% of all inpatient beds (98 522) in 2011. They also accounted for 22% of part-time hospitalization places and tend to specialize in areas with higher profit opportunities (see section 5.4).”

Source: Chevreul K, Berg Brigham K, Durand-Zaleski I, Hernández-Quevedo C. France: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(3): 1–218.

“The number of hospital beds and average length of stay in France have decreased over the past decade as the system has started to shift activities from inpatient to outpatient and ambulatory care, but they remain above the EU average (Figure 18).

“The National Health Strategy 2018-22 proposes further restructuration of the hospital sector that would include a new category of ‘proximity’ hospitals. These would focus on providing low-technical level care, such as general medicine, geriatrics, rehabilitation, chronic disease management, technical support (medical imaging, biology), mobile care and eHealth, including telemedicine. It is expected that about 500 to 600 public hospitals (i.e. 35-45 %) will become proximity hospitals.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2019), France: Country Health Profile 2019, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“Purchase of major medical equipment is subject to authorization by the relevant ARS [Regional Health Agency] (see section 2.8.6). Two-thirds of CT and MRI units are found in public hospitals, although the number of MRI units is rapidly growing in private hospitals because of advantageous SHI tariffs. PET scanners are less profitable and so are less likely to be found in private hospitals. In 2011, the number of major medical imaging technologies was lower relative to population size than the OECD average (Table 4.2). The availability of MRI units, in particular, has been questioned, in terms of both waiting times and geographic dispersion (Cour des comptes, 2010).”

Source: Chevreul K, Berg Brigham K, Durand-Zaleski I, Hernández-Quevedo C. France: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(3): 1–218.

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated Jan. 13, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.