
UK Health System Overview
Health System Rankings
Health System Outcomes
Coverage and Consumer Costs
UK COVID-19 Policy
Health System Financing and Expenditures
Medical Personnel
Health System Physical Resources and Utilization
Long-Term Care
Medical Training
Pharmaceuticals
Political System
Economic System
Population Demographics
People With Disabilities
Aging
Social Determinants & Health Equity
Health System History and Challenges
Life Expectancy at Birth (2019): 81.4
Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births) (2017): 7
Neonatal Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births) (2020): 3
Probability of Dying from any of Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Diseases Between Age 30 and Exact Age 70 (%) (2019): 10.3%
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.
Neonatal Mortality Rate (Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births) (2019): 3
Infant Mortality Rate (Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births) (2019): 4
Under-5 Mortality Rate (Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births) (2019):
Male: 5; Female: 4
Note: “Under-5 mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
“Infant mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 1 year of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
“Neonatal mortality rate – Probability of dying during the first 28 days of life, expressed per 1,000 live births.”
Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health, UNICEF, New York, October 2021.
Maternal Deaths Per 100,000 Live Births, 2020: 10
Source: Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2020: estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Adverse events in hip and knee surgeries: post-operative pulmonary embolism (PE) or deep vein thrombosis (DVT), 2019 (Rate per 100,000 Discharges):
— PE: 346.7; DVT: 223.8
Obstetric trauma, vaginal delivery without instrument, 2019 (Crude rate per 100 instrument-assisted vaginal deliveries): 2.4
Obstetric trauma, vaginal delivery with instrument, 2019 (Crude rate per 100 instrument-assisted vaginal deliveries): 5.8
Asthma hospital admission in adults, 2019 (Age-sex standardized rates per 100,000 population): 74.5
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) hospital admission in adults, 2019 (Age-sex standardized rates per 100,000 population): 222.9
Congestive heart failure (CHF) hospital admission in adults, 2019 (Age-sex standardized rates per 100,000 population): 107.8
Diabetes hospital admission in adults, 2019 (Age-sex standardized rates per 100,000 population): 80.9
Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.
“Overall, the health of the population of the United Kingdom has improved in the last decade (see Section 1.4). There have been considerable reductions in amenable mortality (death before age 75 due to conditions that are considered preventable in the presence of timely and effective health care) across the United Kingdom, with the number of deaths more than halved between 1990 and 2010 (Bevan et al., 2014). In 1990 around 30% of all male deaths before age 75 and 40% of all female deaths before age 75 were amenable, and by 2010 these figures had fallen to 20% and 30%, respectively. The decline in cardiovascular mortality has been largely responsible for reductions in amenable mortality overall. Amenable deaths, however, have remained around 20% higher in Scotland which has the highest rate in the United Kingdom compared to England (the lowest). Deaths from respiratory and circulatory diseases, as well as from cancers, have fallen, and at least some of this can be attributed to effective screening programmes. There are no significant differences across the United Kingdom in terms of preventive services, such as breast cancer screening or immunization rates (Bevan et al., 2014). Screening rates in the United Kingdom are among the highest in the OECD for cervical and breast cancers; mammography screening reached 75.9% of women aged 50–69 in 2013 (OECD average 58.8%) while cervical cancer screening reached 78.1% of women aged 20–69 in 2013 (OECD average 61.6%). Leaders continue to support healthy living programmes such as smoking cessation, alcohol reduction and obesity reduction programmes.”
Source: Cylus J, Richardson E, Findley L, Longley M, O’Neill C, Steel D. United Kingdom: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(5): 1–125.
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 March 3, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.