Multinational Comparisons of Health Care: Expenditures, Coverage, and Outcomes

International comparisons of health care systems offer valuable tools to policymakers wishing to evaluate the performance of their own systems. The data can suggest in what aspects a country is doing well or poorly, or is simply making different choices relative to other countries.

In this chart book, we present data comparing the health care systems and their performance in eight industrialized countries—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and the median of all 29 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We compare the performance of each country's health system among four dimensions: health expenditures, insurance coverage, financing and delivery, and outcomes. The data were obtained from OECD Health Data 98 and subsequent updates. We also briefly summarize the health care financing and delivery systems in all eight countries.