Korea tops OECD in hospital beds, outpatient visits, but lags in medical workforce

“Extend care as long as possible and make full use of medical resources.” 

This phrase encapsulates the current state of Korea’s healthcare system, as illustrated by the latest health statistics released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Korea leads all OECD member countries in the number of hospital beds and also ranks high in the availability of medical equipment, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scanners. The country also reports the highest annual number of outpatient visits per capita among OECD nations.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare shared these findings on Wednesday, based on its analysis of the OECD’s “Health Statistics 2025” report.

As of 2023, Korea had the highest number of hospital beds per 1,000 people among OECD countries, at 12.6 beds per 1,000 people. The OECD average was 4.2 beds, meaning Korea had three times the average number of beds. Among these, the number of acute care beds per 1,000 people was 7.4, more than twice the OECD average of 3.4 beds per 1,000 people.

The number of medical equipment per capita was also high. Korea had 38.7 MRI machines and 45.3 CT scanners per 1 million people, ranking second only to Japan, which has the highest number of medical equipment per capita. The OECD average was 21.2 MRI machines and 31.1 CT scanners.

The utilization rate of medical equipment also increased. The MRI use rate in Korea was 90.3 per 1,000 people, which was not significantly different from the OECD average of 92.4. However, the CT use rate was 333.5 per 1,000 people, the highest among OECD countries. The OECD average was 177.9, indicating that Korea's use rate was approximately twice as high.

The number of outpatient visits per capita was 18.0 annually, the highest among OECD countries. This is 2.8 times higher than the OECD average of 6.5 visits. Japan, which ranks second after Korea, had 12.1 outpatient visits per capita.

The average length of hospital stays is also longer. The average length of hospital stays for Korean patients was 17.5 days, 9.4 days longer than the OECD average of 8.1 days. The average length of hospital stays for acute care patients was 7.2 days, 0.7 days longer than the OECD average of 6.5 days.

Over the past decade, the average length of stay per inpatient in Korea has increased, while the number of acute care patients has decreased. Total hospitalizations increased by an average of 0.6 percent a year, while acute care decreased by an average of 2.1 percent annually.

The life expectancy of Koreans is 83.5 years, ranking among the highest in the OECD countries (average 81.1 years). In addition, the avoidable mortality rate, which refers to deaths that could have been prevented through prevention and timely treatment, has been declining for a long time and was 151.0 per 100,000 population, lower than the OECD average of 228.6.

Although medical utilization was high, medical expenses were lower than the OECD average.

In 2023, Korea's current health expenditure as a percentage of GDP was 8.5 percent, lower than the OECD average of 9.1 percent. Per capita current health expenditure was $4,586.3 on a PPP (purchasing power parity) basis, lower than the OECD average of $5,476.7.

Per capita pharmaceutical sales in Korea were $968.9 in PPP terms, $310.8 higher than the OECD average of $658.1.

Although the number of hospital beds and medical utilization is high, the number of clinical physicians is lower than the OECD average of 3.86 physicians per 1,000 people. The number of clinical physicians per 1,000 population was 2.7, the second lowest among OECD countries after Japan. The figure includes oriental medicine practitioners.

The number of medical school graduates, including those in traditional Korean medicine, was 7.4 per 100,000 population, the third lowest among OECD countries, after Israel (7.2) and Canada (7.3). The OECD average was 14.3.

The total number of nursing personnel in the country was 9.5 per 1,000 people, which was 0.2 fewer than the OECD average of 9.7 per 1,000 people. Among nursing personnel, excluding nursing assistants, there were 5.2 nurses per 1,000 people, which was lower than the OECD average of 8.45 nurses per 1,000 people. However, the number of nursing school graduates per 100,000 population was 46.0, higher than the OECD average of 35.0.