South Korea’s National COVID-19 Policy
South Korean Health System Overview
Health System Rankings
Health System Outcomes
Coverage and Costs for Consumers
Density of medical doctors (per 10,000 population) (2012-2020): 24.8
Density of nursing and midwifery personnel (per 10,000 population) (2012-2020): 81.8
Density of dentists (per 10,000 population) (2012-2020): 5.2
Density of pharmacists (per 10,000 population) (2012-2020): 7.6
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.
Remuneration of Hospital Nurses, Ratio to Average Wage (2019): 1.1
Remuneration of Hospital Nurses, USD PPP (2019): $40,100
Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.
“In response to the increasing demand for health services triggered by expanding insurance coverage, the health workforce has continuously expanded, though numbers of certain types of health professionals are still below the average of other developed countries. The number of practicing doctors, including primary care doctors and specialists, was 2.03 per 1000 people in 2011 (Table 4.5), which was lower than the average of OECD countries (3.18). The number of nurses has increased by over 50% in the last decade, but is much less than the average of OECD countries (8.70). Taking account of the increase in hospital beds, it is anticipated that the nurse-to-bed ratio is much lower than that of other developed countries. Recently, the Government implemented a policy of increasing the number of nursing colleges, and the number of graduates has doubled to 25,000.”
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.
“The employment rate of nurses is low in the Republic of Korea, estimated at about 41% as of 2012 (MOHW, 2013). This is because demand for nurses is not high enough to accommodate the supply of nurses. The low demand could be attributed to hospital managements’ cost reduction strategies, which lead to patients’ families or informal caregivers providing some nursing services that otherwise would be provided by licensed nurses. In contrast to the generally low employment rate of nurses, large hospitals in metropolitan areas have recently recruited more nurses, not only to provide better quality service but also to receive higher reimbursements from the insurer. As a result of nurses moving to large hospitals in metropolitan areas, most small hospitals in rural areas are suffering from a lack of nurses.”
“In 2012, about 87% of nurses worked in hospitals and only 13% worked in primary care settings such as clinics. Instead, nursing aides appear to have filled the nurses’ place in primary care settings, with the number of nursing aides working in the primary care setting more than five times that of nurses. About 59% of doctors worked in hospitals and about 41% worked in clinics and health centres. About 15% of dentists and traditional medical doctors were employed in hospitals (Table 4.6).”
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.
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 Sept. 14, 2022 by Doug McVay, Editor.
