TOP 10 Countries by Hospital Beds per 1,000 Population (2025)
Top 10 Countries by Hospital Beds per 1,000 People (2025): Capacity Leaders
Hospital beds per 1,000 population remain one of the simplest ways to compare how much inpatient capacity countries keep in reserve. The countries at the top of the ranking look similar on paper, but they have very different histories, demographics and health-system models.
“High bed density is not a guarantee of resilience. It is a signal that a country has chosen to keep a lot of inpatient capacity online – but what really matters is how flexible that capacity is during shocks.”
How the Top 10 was constructed
For this dashboard, StatRanker uses the latest comparable figures on total hospital beds per 1,000 people from OECD Health Statistics and the World Bank/WHO Global Health Observatory. Values are typically reported for 2020–2023; we treat this as the “2025 snapshot”, because the relative ranking of countries has been very stable in recent years.
The table below groups the Top 10 countries into three bands. Within each band, countries are listed by descending bed density. All values are rounded to two decimal places for readability.
| Rank & countries | Beds per 1,000 people (approx.) | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3. South Korea, Japan, Germany | ≈12.6–7.8 | Extremely high inpatient capacity. Korea and Japan invest heavily in hospital infrastructure, while Germany combines many beds with strong intensive-care resources. |
| 4–7. Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Poland | ≈7.1–6.2 | Central and Eastern European systems that still maintain large hospital sectors per capita, often as a legacy of earlier planning models with long average stays. |
| 8–10. Lithuania, France, Slovakia | ≈6.0–5.7 | Mature high-income systems with strong hospital capacity, but gradual restructuring towards shorter stays, day surgery and more community-based care. |
Note: Figures are based mainly on 2020 OECD data on hospital beds per 1,000 people, which show: South Korea 12.65, Japan 12.63, Germany 7.82, Austria 7.05, Hungary 6.76, Czechia 6.50, Poland 6.19, Lithuania 6.01, France 5.73, Slovakia 5.68. Minor updates since 2020 have not materially changed the Top 10 order.
Key messages from the Top 10
- Asia plus Central Europe dominate bed capacity. Korea and Japan top the league table, but seven of the Top 10 countries are in Europe, mostly with social insurance–based systems.
- OECD average is much lower. Across OECD countries there are about 4.2 hospital beds per 1,000 population, meaning the Top 10 operate at 1.5–3 times the average density.
- High capacity reflects policy choices. These systems consciously keep more beds online – for ageing populations, rural coverage, or industrial policy reasons – even as many peers reduce inpatient infrastructure.
Summary table and ownership patterns in the Top 10
Table 1. TOP 10 countries by hospital beds per 1,000 people (latest values used for 2025 ranking)
This table lists each country in the Top 10 individually, with the approximate number of hospital beds per 1,000 population based on the latest OECD/WHO figures around 2020–2023. The order and relative distances between countries have stayed very stable, so this snapshot is a good proxy for the 2025 situation.
| Rank | Country | Beds per 1,000 people (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Korea | 12.65 |
| 2 | Japan | 12.63 |
| 3 | Germany | 7.82 |
| 4 | Austria | 7.05 |
| 5 | Hungary | 6.76 |
| 6 | Czechia | 6.50 |
| 7 | Poland | 6.19 |
| 8 | Lithuania | 6.01 |
| 9 | France | 5.73 |
| 10 | Slovakia | 5.68 |
Note: Values are taken from the OECD/World Bank series for 2020, where South Korea and Japan lead the world with more than 12 beds per 1,000 population, followed by a cluster of Central and Western European systems. Minor updates after 2020 do not materially alter this Top 10.
Table 2. Public vs private hospital beds in selected Top-10 systems
Behind these bed numbers lie very different ownership structures. German-speaking Europe is dominated by public and non-profit hospitals, while Korea and Japan rely on privately owned facilities that are heavily financed and regulated by public insurance schemes.
| Country group | Indicative share of beds | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Germany, Austria, France, Poland, Czechia | Roughly two-thirds or more of beds in public or non-profit hospitals; smaller but growing for-profit sector. | Large, publicly anchored hospital networks provide emergency and complex care, while private providers mainly add capacity for elective procedures and diagnostics. |
| South Korea, Japan | Majority of beds in privately owned hospitals and clinics, with strong public financing and regulation. | Dense networks of relatively small private hospitals, especially in urban areas. Payment rules and accreditation are key tools for steering quality and avoiding overuse of inpatient care. |
| Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia | Predominantly public ownership, plus targeted private or PPP investment in specific specialties. | Gradual transition from centralised hospital systems to mixed models, with consolidation of very small facilities and more focus on day surgery and outpatient care. |
Note: Based on OECD “hospital beds by sector” indicators and national reports. Exact percentages differ by year and by how teaching hospitals and non-profit foundations are classified, but the broad pattern is stable.
The chart below uses the same values as the summary table to visualise how far each Top-10 country sits above the OECD average of roughly 4.2 beds per 1,000 people.
Data are based on the latest consolidated OECD/World Bank figures around 2020–2023. Rankings and relative differences have remained very stable, so these values are a good proxy for 2025.
From 1990 to 2025: how hospital bed capacity has evolved
Over the last three decades, most OECD countries have reduced the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people, as surgery shifted to day-case settings and long-stay patients moved into nursing homes and community facilities. South Korea is a notable exception, with a sharp rise in bed density, while Germany and France illustrate the more typical gradual decline from very high levels.
Trends in three high-capacity systems (Germany, France, South Korea)
The chart uses stylised values based on OECD and World Bank series to show the direction of change between 1990 and 2025. Exact numbers differ slightly by source and year, but the pattern is clear: Korea’s bed density has more than tripled since 1990, while Germany and France have reduced beds per capita without sacrificing access to acute inpatient care.
Years shown: 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020, 2025 (2025 values extrapolated from the most recent data points). The lines illustrate long-term trajectories rather than exact official values for every single year.
How to read the trends for policy and planning
For health-system planners, the Top 10 ranking is only a starting point. A country with “too many” beds can face inefficiency, avoidable admissions and workforce shortages, while a country with “too few” beds risks dangerous bottlenecks in intensive care and emergency departments during seasonal peaks and crises.
To get a realistic picture of resilience, experts always combine bed-density indicators with other metrics:
- Average length of stay – shorter stays can free up beds even when the headline bed ratio is modest.
- Occupancy rates – occupancy persistently above 85–90 % leaves little room for seasonal or crisis surges.
- Intermediate and long-term care capacity – if these sectors are strong, hospitals do not need to hold patients as long.
- Geographic distribution – beds concentrated in capitals cannot fully offset shortages in rural regions.
In many of the Top-10 countries, the main reforms between 2000 and 2025 have focused on:
- Consolidating very small hospitals into regional centres with 24/7 emergency coverage.
- Shifting uncomplicated surgery to day-case units and specialist centres.
- Expanding home-based and community services to relieve pressure on acute wards.
- Linking hospital funding more closely to quality and outcomes, not just bed days or admissions.
A practical rule of thumb often used by analysts is: “High bed numbers are helpful only if they are staffed, well located and integrated with primary and long-term care – an empty or understaffed bed does not improve access.”
Primary data sources used for this Top 10
- World Bank / WHO – “Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)” (indicator SH.MED.BEDS.ZS), based on WHO Global Health Observatory data. Open indicator
- WHO Global Health Observatory – “Hospital beds (per 10,000 population)” core definition and metadata. Open WHO metadata
- OECD Health Statistics & Health at a Glance 2025 – chapter “Hospital beds and occupancy” (OECD countries, latest data up to 2023). Open OECD Health Statistics
- TheGlobalEconomy.com – “Hospital beds per 1,000 people, 2020” ranking used as the starting point for constructing the Top 10 list. Open country ranking
- Health at a Glance: Europe reports – trend charts on bed numbers, length of stay and occupancy rates for EU/OECD members. Open EU health reports
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