Top 100 Countries by Hospital Beds per 1,000 People, Latest World Bank/WHO Data

Overview: what hospital beds per 1,000 people measures

Hospital beds per 1,000 people is a health-system capacity measure. It counts reported inpatient beds in public, private, general and specialized hospitals and rehabilitation centers, with acute and chronic care beds included in the broad World Bank definition.

The metric helps compare hospital infrastructure density, but it is not a quality score. It does not show whether beds are staffed, equipped, occupied, affordable, geographically accessible or suitable for emergency and intensive care.

Each economy is represented by its latest available World Bank WDI value. This keeps the table source-based, but it also means older observations remain visible when the indicator has not been updated for a country or territory.

Why countries differ in hospital-bed density

High hospital-bed density often reflects a hospital-centered care model, long-stay and chronic-care capacity, older infrastructure patterns, aging populations, specialized facilities or reporting rules that count a wider range of beds.

A lower value is not automatically a sign of weak healthcare. Some systems use more primary care, outpatient treatment, day surgery, home care, shorter stays and stronger triage, which can reduce the number of inpatient beds needed per resident.

Small economies and territories need extra caution. A single specialized facility, a small resident population or an old source year can push a bed-density value far above the levels seen in large national systems.

Top 10 hospital-bed densities in the latest World Bank WDI entries

The top ten combine small economies, older source years and high-capacity hospital systems. The rank is calculated from beds per 1,000 people, while the note shows the source year that explains how current each entry is.

Top 10 countries and economies by hospital beds per 1,000 people

Values are beds per 1,000 people. Always read the year badge: this table combines the latest available WDI year for each economy.

How to read older top entries: Greenland, Channel Islands and Virgin Islands

Some high-ranking entries are source-backed but old observations. Greenland appears with a 1970 value, the Channel Islands with a 1981 value and the U.S. Virgin Islands with a 1996 value.

Those entries should not be read as current 2026 hospital capacity. They remain in the table because the ranking follows the World Bank reporting universe and uses the latest available value for each economy.

For current policy analysis, give more weight to recent-year entries and treat older small-territory values as data-availability signals rather than direct evidence of present-day bed supply.

Methodology

The metric is hospital beds per 1,000 people. The source indicator is World Bank SH.MED.BEDS.ZS, with WHO data supplemented by country data. The ranking orders the published WDI values from higher to lower.

Entries without a WDI value are excluded. When display values look equal after rounding, the underlying numeric value and the existing table order determine placement.

Limits are important. World Bank metadata treats hospital beds as a rough capacity indicator because definitions are not fully consistent across countries. This is not an ICU-bed count, not a hospital-quality score, not a staffing measure and not a real-time capacity tracker.

The metric also does not measure bed occupancy, emergency readiness, equipment, regional access, affordability, waiting times, health outcomes or the strength of outpatient and primary-care systems.

Main ranking: Top 100 countries and economies by hospital beds per 1,000 people

Use the controls to search by entity, filter by region or source type, change sort order or switch between Top 10, Top 20 and the full Top 100.

Top 100 countries and economies by hospital beds per 1,000 people

Primary source: World Bank WDI indicator SH.MED.BEDS.ZS, WHO data supplemented by country data. DataHub and NationStat are listed as secondary access and checking pages. Values are rounded for display after ranking.

Insights from the hospital-bed density ranking

What this ranking means for readers

This ranking helps compare reported inpatient bed density across countries and economies. It is useful for discussions about healthcare infrastructure, hospital-system capacity and long-run differences in care models.

A latest WDI value is not the same as a current operating-capacity count. Some entries have older source years, especially small territories and economies with infrequent reporting.

Hospital beds are only one part of readiness. A system with fewer beds can still perform well if it has strong primary care, outpatient capacity, staffing, financing, triage and short average stays. A system with many beds may still face shortages if staff, equipment or regional access are constrained.

FAQ

Sources