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Hospital Beds Per 1,000 Population (2019): 3.16
Nurse-To-Hospital-Bed Ratio (Head Count) (2019): 1.42
Doctors Consultations (In All Settings) (Number Per Capita) (2019): 10.4
Hospital Average Length of Stay (All Causes) (2019): 8 Days
Computed Tomography Scanners (Per Million Population) (2019): 36.46
Magnetic Imaging Resonance Units (Per Million Population) (2019): 30.22
Mammographs (Per Million Population) (2019): 34.52

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD.Stat. Last accessed June 16, 2022.

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“In Italy in 2017, 51.8% of health care facilities were public, while accredited private facilities accounted for the remaining 48.2%, with a high concentration in the regions of Lazio, Lombardy, Campania and Sicily (ANAAOASSOMED, 2020).

In 2019, the SSN had almost 190,000 ordinary hospital beds, 21.4% of which were in accredited private facilities. In addition to these, there were 12,173 day hospital beds, which are almost entirely public (83.8%), and 8,389 day surgery beds, which are mostly public (76.2%). At the national level, 0.6 beds per 1,000 inhabitants were allocated to rehabilitation and long-term care, with considerable regional variability. Following similar trends in OECD and EU countries, the number of acute beds in Italy has decreased, falling by 39% since 2000 (from 422 per 100,000 people to 260 in 2019) (Fig. 4.1; see also Table 5.1).”

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“In 2019, Italy’s health care infrastructure comprised 995 hospitals, 8,801 outpatient centres, 1,145 rehabilitation facilities, and 16,270 residential and semi-residential establishments. Hospitals and outpatient care facilities are mostly public (51.8% and 87%, respectively) whereas establishments that provide residential, semi-residential and rehabilitation assistance are mostly private for-profit and not for-profit accredited organizations (Ministero della Salute, 2020c).

“Italian hospitals have a mean age of 70 years (de Belvis et al., 2012), and their sizes are as follows: 39% of inpatient facilities have less than 120 beds and only 13% have over 600 beds, with the largest hospitals exceeding 1,500 beds, mainly located in the large metropolitan areas of Rome and Milan (see Table 4.1 and Box 4.1). Generally, the smallest hospitals cover less than 14 specialties, whereas the largest ones cover at least 15 specialties.”

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“Prior to the pandemic, the number of hospital beds per 1,000 population had remained stable at 3.2 in Italy between 2014 and 2019, which is considerably below the EU average of 5.3. There are large regional differences: southern regions generally have lower capacity, at 2.4 beds per 1,000 population in 2019, compared to 3.4 beds per 1,000 population in the northern part of Italy. The stable number of hospitals has been accompanied by a sharp reduction in hospital discharges. In 2019, the hospital discharge rate in Italy was the third lowest in the EU after the Netherlands and Portugal. The discharge rate decreased by 18 % between 2010 and 2019.

“On the other hand, the average length of stay has increased slightly since 2010, while it has decreased in most EU countries: in 2019 the average length of stay in hospital in Italy was 8.0 days – higher than the EU average (7.4 days). The slight increase in Italy may be due to a substitution of low-intensity inpatient care with ambulatory care and home care. Therefore, the remaining inpatient cases are more complex and have longer stays on average.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Italy: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

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“Accredited private hospital beds account for 28% of the total number of beds, but there are great differences in the geographical distribution of private beds among Italy’s 20 regions, with Lombardy and Lazio having a larger share of private beds (Ministry of Health, 2009).”

Source: Francesca Ferré. “Italy.” 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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“The importance of medical technology has generally grown over time. The number of MRI units, CT scanners and PET units is constantly rising, doubling between 2000 and 2011 in the case of CT scanners and more than tripling in the case of MRI units (Table 4.1). In 2011 there were 30.4 CT scanners per million population and almost 20 MRI units per million population available in hospital (including public, private accredited and non-accredited providers) and ambulatory settings (public and private accredited providers) (OECD, 2014b). However, the diffusion of medical technology is not evenly distributed across the country. Some regions, such as Liguria, the central regions, as well as Molise, Basilicata and Sardinia have high levels (higher than the national average) of technologies available in public facilities while others in the south have constantly lower levels (Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily).”

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

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World 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 October 5, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.