Hospital Beds Per 1,000 Population (2018): 2.97
Nurse-To-Hospital-Bed Ratio (FTE) (2018): NA
Doctors Consultations (In All Settings) (Number Per Capita) (2017): 7.3
Hospital Average Length of Stay (All Causes) (2018): 8.3 Days
Computed Tomography Scanners (Per Million Population) (2018): 19.12
Magnetic Imaging Resonance Units (Per Million Population) (2018): 17.2
Mammographs (Per Million Population) (2018): 16.24

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD.Stat. Last accessed Oct. 7, 2020.

“As mentioned in Section 4, the number of hospital beds has declined since 2000 and was well below the EU average in 2017. This reduction in bed capacity has been accompanied by a steady reduction in the average length of stay (ALOS) (Figure 19). These trends reflect a significant shift from inpatient activities in hospitals to outpatient activities in or outside hospitals.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2019), Spain: Country Health Profile 2019, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“The number of hospitals in Spain has fallen in 15 years, from 19.2 hospitals in 2000 to 16.5 in 2015 per 1 million inhabitants. This figure is far below the OECD average, with a rate of 29.4 hospitals per 1 million inhabitants in 2015 (OECD, 2016a). In terms of size, 72% of hospitals have fewer than 200 beds and just 18 hospitals, all of them in the public sector, have more than 1000 beds. In terms of ownership, around 45% of the 765 hospitals in Spain belong to the public sector (MSSSI, 2015d). When it comes to the private sector, most of the private hospitals in Spain are for-profit, and there is a clear trend towards industrial concentration in hospital networks.

“With regard to primary health care resources, there are two different types of premises: (a) primary care centres (PCCs), which are health centres where the primary health care team (family physicians, staffed nurses and auxiliary personnel) provide extensive primary care services; and (b) local health offices (LHOs), attached to the former in isolated areas, where professionals provide basic assistance. According to the Information System for Primary Care, Spain had 3048 PCCs and 10111 LHOs in 2016, with 96% and 98%, respectively, owned by the public sector. The number of PCCs and LHOs has remained stable over the years (MSSSI, 2016g).”

Source: Bernal-Delgado E, García-Armesto S, Oliva J, Sánchez Martínez FI, Repullo JR, PeñaLongobardo LM, Ridao-López M, Hernández-Quevedo C. Spain: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2018;20(2):1–179.

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 Nov. 21, 2021 by Doug McVay, Editor.