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World Health Systems Facts

Korea: Health System Outcomes


Life expectancy at birth (years), 2021: 83.8
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births), 2023: 4
Under-five mortality rate (per 1000 live births), 2023: 2.8
Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births), 2023: 1.2
Tuberculosis incidence (per 100,000 population), 2023: 38
Probability of dying from any of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease between age 30 and exact age 70 (%), 2021: 6.9%

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.


Population aged 15 years and over rating their own health as bad or very bad, 2021: 13.8%
Life expectancy at birth, 2021: 83.6
Infant mortality, deaths per 1,000 live births, 2021: 2.4
Maternal mortality rate, deaths per 100,000 live births, 2020: 8.1
Congestive heart failure hospital admission in adults, age-sex standardized rate per 100,000 population, 2019: 95
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospital admissions in adults, age-sex standardized rate per 100,000 population, 2019: 230
Adults aged 65 and over rating their own health as good or very good, 2020: 24%

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


Life Expectancy at Birth, 2022: 84.02
Infant Mortality Rate, 2022 (per 1,000 live births): 2.29
Under-Five Mortality Rate, 2022 (per 1,000 live births): 2.79

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.


Life Expectancy at Birth, 2021: 84 years
Neonatal Mortality Rate, 2021: 1
Infant Mortality Rate, 2021: 2
Under-5 Mortality Rate, 2021: 3
Maternal Mortality Ratio, 2020: 8

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.”
“Maternal mortality ratio – Number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births during the same time period (modelled estimates).”

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2023: For every child, vaccination, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, April 2023.


Maternal Deaths Per 100,000 Live Births, 2020: 8

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.


“The health status of the population has improved noticeably over the years. Life expectancy at birth has increased to over 80. In 2011, life expectancy for males was 77.7 years and 84.5 years for females (Table 1.3). Likewise, the total mortality rate has fallen rapidly for both males and females.

“The three main causes of mortality are cancers, cardiovascular diseases and cerebrovascular diseases. The number of deaths due to cancer reached 146.5 per 100 000 persons in 2012 (Table 1.4). Cancers with the highest mortality were lung cancer (33.1 per 100,000), liver cancer (22.5 per 100,000), and stomach cancer (18.6). Cancer mortality among men and women is 1.7 times that of women, with 184.5 deaths per 100,000 for men and 108.5 for women (Figure 1.1). High-risk cancers for men were lung (48.3 per 100,000), liver (33.7 per 100,000) and stomach cancers (24.2 per 100,000), while those for women were lung (17.8 per 100,000), colon (13.9 per 100,000) and stomach cancers (12.9 per 100,000).

“The second cause of death is circulatory diseases (117.1 per 100,000) such as cardiovascular (52.5 per 100,000) and cerebrovascular diseases (51.1 per 100,000). Over the years, deaths from cardiovascular diseases have continued to increase while deaths from cerebrovascular diseases decreased. Mortality from circulatory diseases was higher among women (123.8 per 100,000) than men (110.4 per 100,000). The trend of increasing ischemic heart diseases is evident, and mortality has more than tripled since 1990.”

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.


“Over the last two to three decades, various indicators of child mortality have shown clear improvement. The neonatal mortality rate declined from 3.1 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 1.7 in 2010 (Table 1.7). The infant mortality rate has gone from 12.4 per 1000 live births in 1980 to 3.5 in 2010. The under-five mortality rate declined from 14.4 per 1000 live births in 1980 to 4.1 in 2010. And maternal mortality was 18 per 100,000 live births in 1990 and 16 in 2010. The decrease in child mortality can be attributed to high rates of prenatal care utilization and facility delivery. Almost 100% of babies are delivered in health facilities in the Republic of Korea. Prenatal care, including the use of ultrasonography, as well as postnatal care including free health checkups for infants are now provided as an NHI benefit.”

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.


“On dental health, the prevalence of decay has decreased slightly in recent years, as noted with 37.9% in males and 32.1% in females having at least one decayed tooth in 2012. An income-related disparity was again evident as the lowest-income quartile had the highest prevalence of decay.”

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.


Korea: Health System Outcomes - mortality, life expectancy - National Policies - World Health Systems Facts

South Korean Health System Overview
Health System Rankings
Health System Outcomes
Coverage and Costs for Consumers
Financing and Expenditures
Preventive Healthcare

Healthcare Workers
Resources and Utilization
Long-Term Services and Supports
Healthcare Workforce Education and Training
Health Information and Communications Technologies
Pharmaceuticals

Political System
Economic System
Population Demographics
People With Disabilities
Aging
Social Determinants and Health Equity
Reforms and Challenges
Wasteful Spending


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 August 7, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.

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