World Health Systems Facts currently covers the US and sixteen other OECD nations. Links below lead directly to national subsections on Health System Reforms and Challenges.

“• Women live longer than men in all OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries, but the gap varies from 3 to 10 years across countries. Over the past decade, most OECD countries have narrowed the gap between women and men in life expectancy at birth. However, eight countries saw the gap widen – notably Mexico (from 5.6 to 6.5), the United States (from 4.8 to 5.3 years), Latvia (from 9.6 to 10.1), Israel (from 3.6 to 4.0), and Iceland (from 3.2 to 3.6). Other countries showing a widening gap were Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom.• Differences in death rates by disease reveal distinct drivers of premature mortality for men and women. Among men, external causes – including suicide, accidents and violence – are the leading contributor of potential years of life lost, accounting for 31% of the top ten causes of premature deaths across OECD countries. This points to urgent prevention needs, as many of these deaths are avoidable and linked to mental health issues, risk-taking behaviour and occupational hazards. Suicide rates remain between two and eight times higher among men than women, despite declines in recent decades. In contrast, cancer is the leading cause of potential years of life lost among women across OECD countries.

“• The morbidity – mortality disparity: women spend a larger share of their life in poor health, despite living longer. Across OECD countries, women report more years with activity limitations after age 60 than men (6.3 vs. 5.0 years), resulting in a smaller share of life in good health (74% vs. 76%). In the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and Türkiye, the gender gap reaches 3 percentage points (p.p.), probably reflecting differences in access to care, health behaviours and occupational risks. OECD Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys (PaRIS) data confirm that women aged 45 and over with chronic conditions report worse physical and mental health, lower well-being, and poorer social functioning (OECD, 2025[1]). Comparable results are found in the Eurostat European Health Interview Survey (EHIS).

“• Gender gaps in disease susceptibility are largely driven by differences in behaviour and risk exposure. Men consistently smoke more, are twice as likely to engage in heavy episodic drinking, consume fewer vegetables (except in Mexico and Korea), and are more likely to be overweight or obese across all OECD countries. They also face higher risks from illicit drug use. In contrast, women report lower physical activity in all OECD countries except Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

“• Social inequalities in health underpin some differences between men and women. PaRIS data on people reporting good or excellent health show clear patterns by education level and gender. On average across OECD countries, men with higher education levels report being healthier, with a 13.2 p.p. gap between groups with low and mid/high education levels. For women, the gap is even larger, averaging 15.2 p.p. There are also differences within education levels: among people with low education levels, on average, men report better health than women (by 4.3 p.p.); the same is true among those with mid/high education levels (by 2.8 p.p.). These results are consistent with findings from the EHIS.”

Source: OECD (2025), Health at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/8f9e3f98-en.

“• Targeted prevention is urgently needed to reduce premature deaths from cardiovascular disease – particularly among men. Public health strategies should include tailored approaches for men, such as early screening for hypertension and high cholesterol, behaviour change programmes, and efforts to increase men’s participation in preventive care. Adapting cardiovascular risk assessment, diagnosis and treatment to reflect the different needs of women and men could help to achieve more equitable health outcomes.

“• Reducing the cancer burden and premature deaths from cancer among women could benefit from a targeted approach across the life course. Priorities include cost-effective population-wide interventions to reduce smoking and harmful alcohol consumption in men, and strengthening screening and early detection efforts. For women, priorities involve expanding colorectal screening and ensuring equitable access to breast and cervical cancer screening – especially for underserved groups such as women in rural areas, migrant populations and low-income communities.

“• Prevention of external causes of death needs to better account for differences between men and women. External causes – including suicide, accidents and violence – are the leading drivers of premature mortality among men – particularly those of working age. Policies should prioritise early intervention through accessible, stigma-free mental health services and targeted efforts to prevent ‘deaths of despair’ linked to alcohol, drugs and social isolation. While men are more likely to die by suicide, women more often report suicidal thoughts and attempts. Prevention efforts must close diagnosis and help-seeking gaps among men, while also addressing the growing mental health needs of young women through outreach, peer support and crisis care.

“• The different patterns of multimorbidity for men and women observed in PaRIS data show the need for tailored care plans based on the mix of chronic conditions. For men, the combination of cardiovascular disease and related risks calls for integrated heart health prevention and management. Both men and women often have a mix of unrelated conditions, but women more often report combinations like arthritis and breathing problems. These differences highlight the importance of designing care plans that address both related and unrelated conditions, ensure strong co-ordination between specialists, and support patients in managing their own care.

“• Social gradients of access and quality of health services call for targeted interventions among populations with low education levels, and multisectoral policies. Population-level and community-based interventions, community outreach, stronger safety nets and tailored prevention can help reduce health disadvantages for women and men with low education levels. Expanding access to education is key to help narrow gender health gaps.

“• Health disparities can be explained in part by differences in how women and men access and experience care. Medical education and guidelines often overlook how diseases present differently in men and women, reflecting a historical lack of inclusive research. PaRIS [Patient-Reported Indicators Surveys] data confirm that men are more likely to rate the quality of care positively and to report higher levels of trust in the health system.”

Source: OECD (2025), Health at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/8f9e3f98-en.

“When patients with chronic conditions receive care from multiple providers across different healthcare settings, fragmented services can lead to poor health outcomes, unmet needs, excessive service use and higher costs. On average across OECD countries, based on PaRIS [Patient-Reported Indicators Surveys] data, only 59% primary care users living with chronic conditions reported good care co-ordination, with results ranging from 22% in Wales (United Kingdom) to 81% in Switzerland. In response, many countries are developing new models of care to better integrate services – aiming to enhance population health, improve patient experience, reduce costs, support healthcare professionals’ well-being and promote health equity (OECD, 2023[1]).

“Optimal integration across levels of care for patients with stroke and chronic heart failure (CHF) reduces unnecessary hospital readmissions and mortality, while improving adherence to appropriate prescribing (Barrenho et al., 2022[2]). Among patients discharged from hospital, indicators such as readmission rates, mortality and compliance with prescription guidelines serve as key measures of how effectively health systems deliver integrated care.

“Figure 6.35 presents the share of patients experiencing adverse outcomes within one year of discharge for ischaemic stroke and CHF in 2023. There is substantial cross-country variation in both the level and type of post-discharge outcomes. For stroke patients, on average across OECD countries,15% died and 23% were readmitted within a year, resulting in a combined adverse outcome of 38%. The Netherlands (31%) and Iceland (33%) reported the lowest overall rates, while Czechia (54%) and Denmark (48%) recorded the highest, with particularly high share of mortality and readmissions unrelated to the initial stroke. In nearly all countries, readmissions for conditions other than the original diagnosis account for the largest proportion of post-discharge events.

“For CHF, the burden of post-discharge adverse events is consistently higher than for stroke. Iceland reported the lowest overall rate at 24%. In contrast, Norway (71%) and Czechia (69%) recorded the highest, with both mortality and readmissions exceeding the OECD averages. These findings point to opportunities to strengthen transitional care pathways and enhance continuity in chronic disease management.

“Between 2013 and 2023, the share of patients who died or were readmitted within a year after discharge declined in most countries for both CHF and stroke. On average across OECD countries, adverse outcome rates fell by about 6 p.p. [Percentage Points] for CHF and 5 p.p. for stroke. Iceland showed the greatest improvement in both, with CHF rates dropping from 32.6% to 23.1% and stroke rates from 35.3% to 23.2%. Switzerland also saw substantial declines. These trends suggest progress in post-discharge care, with most countries maintaining or improving performance. However, several countries experienced worsening trends, particularly in CHF outcomes. Norway saw a rise in all-cause mortality within one year of discharge – from 23.3% in 2017 to 27.8% in 2023. Canada and Czechia also reported modest but consistent increases in post-discharge mortality, raising concerns about care co-ordination and primary care capacity.

“Patients recovering from ischaemic stroke should receive antihypertensive and antithrombotic medications as part of secondary prevention after hospital discharge. Receiving at least one prescription within 18 months serves as an indicator of how well care is integrated between hospital and community settings (Barrenho et al., 2022[2]). Figure 6.36 shows wide variation in prescribing rates across countries: antihypertensives ranged from 68% in the Netherlands to 83% in Sweden, while antithrombotics ranged from 31% in OECD accession country Croatia to 94% in Sweden. Sweden’s strong performance is likely to reflect effective information transfer across care levels and comprehensive diagnosis documentation (Dahlgren et al., 2017[3]).

Source: OECD (2025), Health at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/8f9e3f98-en.

Breaking News

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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 OECD member nations.

Page last updated March 2, 2026 by Doug McVay, Editor.