
Health System Overview
Health System Rankings
Health System Outcomes
Coverage and Costs for Consumers
South Korea’s National 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
Korea: Demographics
Population: 51,225,000
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019: Data Booklet (ST/ESA/SER.A/424).
Korean Health System Facts: Coverage
Population Health Coverage (%): 100%
Source: OECD (2019), Health at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4dd50c09-en.
Korean Health System: Costs
Cost as Portion of GDP (%): 7.3%
Source: World health statistics 2019: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Expenditure Per Capita (US$): $2,044
Source: World health statistics 2019: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Annual Out of Pocket Spending Per Capita (US$): $769
Source: Global Health Expenditure Database. Health expenditure series. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 8, 2020.
South Korean Health System: Outcomes
Care Ranking: 26
(Source: GBD 2017 SDG Collaborators. “Measuring progress from 1990 to 2017 and projecting attainment to 2030 of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 195 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.” Lancet (London, England) vol. 392,10159 (2018): 2091-2138. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32281-5)
Life Expectancy: 82.7
(Source: World health statistics 2019: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.)
Infant Mortality Rate (Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births): 3
(Source: UNICEF (2019). The State of the World’s Children 2019. Children, Food and Nutrition: Growing well in a changing world. UNICEF, New York.)
Korea: Medical Personnel
Doctors Per 10,000 Population: 23.7
(Source: World health statistics 2019: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.)
Nurses Per 10,000 Population: 69.7
(Source: World health statistics 2019: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.)
Useful Links
Health Insurance Review and Assessment Services (HIRA): http://www.hira.or.kr/eng/
Ministry of Health and Welfare (MFDS): http://www.mfds.go.kr/eng/index.do?nMenuCode=7
Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW): http://english.mw.go.kr/front_eng/jc/sjc0108mn.jsp?PAR_MENU_ID=100314&MENU_ID=10031401
National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA): http://neca.re.kr/eng/
National Health Insurance Service (NHIS): http://www.nhis.or.kr/static/html/wbd/g/a/wbdga0101.html
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 several other nations.
Page last updated Oct. 12, 2021 by Doug McVay, Editor.