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Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) per capita in US$, 2022: $878.10

Source: Global Health Observatory. Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.

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Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%), 2022: 28.79%

Source: Global Health Observatory. Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.

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Domestic private health expenditure (PVT-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%), 2022: 37.25%

Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic private health expenditure (PVT-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.

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Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%), 2022: 62.75%

Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.

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Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (%), 2022: 5.92%

Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.

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Population with household expenditures on health > 10% of total household expenditure or income (%), 2015-2021: 11.96%
Population with household expenditures on health > 25% of total household expenditure or income (%), 2015-2021: 2.87%
Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of general government expenditure (GGE) (%), 2022: 14.08%

Source: World health statistics 2025: monitoring health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Tables of health statistics by country and area, WHO region and globally. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

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Health expenditure by type of financing, 2021
– Government schemes: 17%
– Compulsory health insurance: 46%
– Voluntary health insurance: 8%
– Out-of-pocket: 29%
– Other: 1%
Out-of-pocket spending on health as share of final household consumption, 2021: 6.1%
Expenditure on retail pharmaceuticals by type of financing, 2021:
– Government/compulsory schemes: 52%
– Voluntary health insurance schemes: 2%
– Out-of-pocket spending: 46%
– Other: 0%
Total long-term care spending by provider, 2021
– Nursing home: 21%
– Hospital: 51%
– Home care: 28%
– Households: 0%
– Social providers: 0%
– Other: 0%

Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.

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Annual household out-of-pocket payment in current USD per capita, 2021: $809

Source: Global Health Expenditure Database. Health expenditure series. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed May 13, 2023.

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“The major mechanism for health-care financing in Korea is social (national) health insurance, covering the entire population. Most of the medical care services, except very new costly technology with uncertain cost effectiveness, are included in the benefits package, but with relatively high cost-sharing. The contribution for health insurance is set as the percentage of income or other measures of the ability to pay. Social health insurance has a single payer system with a uniform contribution rate and benefits package for the insured. The share of social health insurance contribution in total health expenditure has increased from 30.9% in 1990 to 43.6% in 2011. The majority of health-care providers are in the private sector (about 90% of hospitals are private), and the role of Government budget allocation in total health expenditure is relatively small, at just 11.7% in 2011.

“As the share of social health insurance in total health expenditure has increased, the share of OOP [Out Of Pocket] payments has decreased from 55.7% in 1990 to 35.2% in 2011. OOP payments in social insurance consist of copayment for covered services and full payment for uncovered services (those services not included in the benefits package). Although the share of OOP payment in total health expenditure has steadily decreased, it is still higher than that in other OECD countries and has caused concern about insufficient financial protection. The role of VHI [Voluntary Health Insurance] in health-care financing has been increasing but its share of total health expenditure is still about 5%.”

Source: World Health Organization. Regional Office for the Western Pacific. (‎2015)‎. Republic of Korea health system review. Manila: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific.

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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 and policies in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated October 22, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.