Healthcare
Charted: Healthcare Spending and Life Expectancy, by Country
Charted: Healthcare Spending and Life Expectancy, by Country
Over the last century, life expectancy at birth has more than doubled across the globe, largely thanks to innovations and discoveries in various medical fields around sanitation, vaccines, and preventative healthcare.
Yet, while the average life expectancy for humans has increased significantly on a global scale, there’s still a noticeable gap in average life expectancies between different countries.
What’s the explanation for this divide? According to World Bank data compiled by Truman Du, it may be partially related to the amount of money a country spends on its healthcare.
More Spending Generally Means More Years
The latest available data from the World Bank includes both the healthcare spending per capita of 178 different countries and their average life expectancy.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the analysis found that countries that spent more on healthcare tended to have higher average life expectancies up until reaching the 80-year mark.
Country | Health expenditure per capita (USD, 2019) | Life expectancy at birth, total (years, 2020) |
---|---|---|
Japan | $4,360 | 85 |
Singapore | $2,633 | 84 |
Korea, Rep. | $2,625 | 83 |
Norway | $8,007 | 83 |
Australia | $5,427 | 83 |
Switzerland | $9,666 | 83 |
Iceland | $6,275 | 83 |
Israel | $3,456 | 83 |
Malta | $2,532 | 83 |
Sweden | $5,671 | 82 |
Italy | $2,906 | 82 |
Spain | $2,711 | 82 |
Ireland | $5,429 | 82 |
France | $4,492 | 82 |
Finland | $4,450 | 82 |
New Zealand | $4,211 | 82 |
Canada | $5,048 | 82 |
Luxembourg | $6,221 | 82 |
Denmark | $6,003 | 82 |
Netherlands | $5,335 | 81 |
Austria | $5,242 | 81 |
Cyprus | $1,996 | 81 |
Greece | $1,501 | 81 |
Portugal | $2,221 | 81 |
Germany | $5,440 | 81 |
United Kingdom | $4,313 | 81 |
Belgium | $4,960 | 81 |
Slovenia | $2,219 | 81 |
Costa Rica | $922 | 80 |
Qatar | $1,807 | 80 |
Chile | $1,376 | 80 |
Barbados | $1,143 | 79 |
Maldives | $854 | 79 |
Lebanon | $663 | 79 |
Cuba | $1,032 | 79 |
Panama | $1,193 | 79 |
Estonia | $1,599 | 78 |
Czech Republic | $1,844 | 78 |
United Arab Emirates | $1,843 | 78 |
Oman | $625 | 78 |
Uruguay | $1,661 | 78 |
Turkiye | $396 | 78 |
Croatia | $1,040 | 78 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | $554 | 78 |
Colombia | $495 | 77 |
Bahrain | $940 | 77 |
Thailand | $296 | 77 |
United States | $10,921 | 77 |
Seychelles | $840 | 77 |
Ecuador | $486 | 77 |
Antigua and Barbuda | $760 | 77 |
Sri Lanka | $161 | 77 |
China | $535 | 77 |
Algeria | $248 | 77 |
Peru | $370 | 77 |
Morocco | $174 | 77 |
Tunisia | $233 | 77 |
Iran, Islamic Rep. | $470 | 77 |
Slovak Republic | $1,342 | 77 |
Argentina | $946 | 77 |
Poland | $1,014 | 77 |
St. Lucia | $502 | 76 |
Malaysia | $437 | 76 |
Brazil | $853 | 76 |
Brunei Darussalam | $672 | 76 |
Montenegro | $735 | 76 |
North Macedonia | $437 | 76 |
Hungary | $1,062 | 76 |
Kuwait | $1,759 | 76 |
Vietnam | $181 | 75 |
Honduras | $188 | 75 |
Latvia | $1,167 | 75 |
Saudi Arabia | $1,316 | 75 |
Armenia | $524 | 75 |
Mexico | $540 | 75 |
Lithuania | $1,370 | 75 |
Belize | $293 | 75 |
Nicaragua | $161 | 75 |
Jordan | $334 | 75 |
Jamaica | $327 | 75 |
Guatemala | $271 | 75 |
Paraguay | $388 | 74 |
Romania | $739 | 74 |
Dominican Republic | $491 | 74 |
Serbia | $641 | 74 |
Belarus | $399 | 74 |
Mauritius | $686 | 74 |
Bahamas | $2,005 | 74 |
Georgia | $291 | 74 |
Trinidad and Tobago | $1,168 | 74 |
Bulgaria | $698 | 74 |
El Salvador | $300 | 74 |
Samoa | $272 | 73 |
Cabo Verde | $178 | 73 |
Solomon Islands | $112 | 73 |
Azerbaijan | $193 | 73 |
Bangladesh | $46 | 73 |
St. Vincent and the Grenadines | $355 | 73 |
Grenada | $534 | 72 |
Egypt, Arab Rep. | $150 | 72 |
Bhutan | $116 | 72 |
Venezuela, RB | $339 | 72 |
Moldova | $284 | 72 |
Indonesia | $120 | 72 |
Uzbekistan | $99 | 72 |
Suriname | $619 | 72 |
Kyrgyz Republic | $62 | 72 |
Bolivia | $246 | 72 |
Kazakhstan | $273 | 71 |
Philippines | $142 | 71 |
Russian Federation | $653 | 71 |
Tajikistan | $62 | 71 |
Ukraine | $248 | 71 |
Nepal | $53 | 71 |
Tonga | $242 | 71 |
Iraq | $253 | 71 |
Vanuatu | $104 | 71 |
Sao Tome and Principe | $108 | 71 |
Mongolia | $163 | 70 |
Cambodia | $113 | 70 |
Guyana | $326 | 70 |
India | $64 | 70 |
Botswana | $482 | 70 |
Timor-Leste | $93 | 70 |
Rwanda | $51 | 69 |
Kiribati | $172 | 69 |
Turkmenistan | $500 | 68 |
Lao PDR | $68 | 68 |
Senegal | $59 | 68 |
Fiji | $236 | 68 |
Djibouti | $62 | 67 |
Pakistan | $39 | 67 |
Madagascar | $20 | 67 |
Myanmar | $60 | 67 |
Kenya | $83 | 67 |
Ethiopia | $27 | 67 |
Gabon | $215 | 67 |
Eritrea | $25 | 67 |
Tanzania | $40 | 66 |
Sudan | $47 | 66 |
Afghanistan | $66 | 65 |
Mauritania | $58 | 65 |
Congo, Rep. | $49 | 65 |
Papua New Guinea | $65 | 65 |
Malawi | $30 | 65 |
Comoros | $72 | 65 |
Liberia | $53 | 64 |
South Africa | $547 | 64 |
Ghana | $75 | 64 |
Haiti | $57 | 64 |
Zambia | $69 | 64 |
Namibia | $427 | 64 |
Uganda | $32 | 64 |
Niger | $31 | 63 |
Gambia, The | $30 | 62 |
Benin | $29 | 62 |
Burkina Faso | $42 | 62 |
Guinea | $43 | 62 |
Burundi | $21 | 62 |
Zimbabwe | $103 | 62 |
Angola | $71 | 61 |
Mozambique | $39 | 61 |
Togo | $51 | 61 |
Congo, Dem. Rep. | $21 | 61 |
Eswatini | $264 | 61 |
Mali | $34 | 60 |
Cameroon | $54 | 60 |
Equatorial Guinea | $255 | 59 |
Guinea-Bissau | $63 | 59 |
Cote d'Ivoire | $75 | 58 |
South Sudan | $23 | 58 |
Sierra Leone | $46 | 55 |
Nigeria | $71 | 55 |
Lesotho | $124 | 55 |
Chad | $30 | 55 |
However, there were a few slight exceptions. For instance, while the United States has the largest spending of any country included in the dataset, its average life expectancy of 77 years is lower than many other countries that spend far less per capita.
What’s going on in the United States? While there are several intermingling factors at play, some researchers believe a big contributor is the country’s higher infant mortality rate, along with its higher relative rate of violence among young adults.
On the other end of the spectrum, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea have the highest life expectancies on the list despite their relatively low spending per capita.
It’s worth mentioning that this wasn’t always the case—in the 1960s, Japan’s life expectancy was actually the lowest among the G7 countries, and South Korea’s was below 60 years, making it one of the top 30 countries by improved life expectancy:
View the full-size infographic
In fact, the last 60 years have seen many countries substantially increase their average life expectancies from the 30-40 year range to 70+ years. But as the header chart shows, there are still many countries lagging behind in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
How High Can Average Life Expectancy Go?
Since people are living longer than they’ve ever lived before, how much higher will average life expectancies be in another 100 years?
Recent research published in Nature Communications suggests that, under the right circumstances, human beings have the potential to live up to 150 years.
Projections from the UN predict that growth will be divided, with developed countries seeing higher life expectancies than developing regions.
However, as seen in the above chart from the World Economic Forum and using UN data, it’s likely the gap between developed and developing countries will narrow over time.
This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.
United States
Mapped: Countries Where Recreational Cannabis is Legal
In total, only nine countries have fully legalized recreational cannabis use.
Countries Where Recreational Cannabis is Legal
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
In 2024, Germany became the third European Union country to legalize cannabis for personal use, following Malta and Luxembourg.
Here, we map the countries where recreational cannabis use is allowed as of April 2024, based on data from Wikipedia.
Limited to Few Countries
In total, only nine countries have legalized recreational cannabis use nationwide. However, just a few of them have licensed sales.
Country | Effective date | Licensed sales since |
---|---|---|
🇺🇾 Uruguay | December 2013 | July 2017 |
🇬🇪 Georgia | 30 July 2018 | Never authorized |
🇿🇦 South Africa | 18 September 2018 | Never authorized |
🇨🇦 Canada | 17 October 2018 | 17 October 2018 |
🇲🇽 Mexico | 28 June 2021 | Never authorized |
🇲🇹 Malta | 14 December 2021 | Never authorized |
🇹🇠Thailand | 9 June 2022 | 9 June 2022 |
🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 21 July 2023 | Never authorized |
🇩🇪 Germany | 1 April 2024 | Never authorized |
🇺🇸 U.S. | Varies by state | Varies by state |
🇦🇺 Australia | Varies by jurisdiction | Never authorized |
At the federal level, cannabis is still considered an illegal substance in the United States. That said, individual states do have the right to determine their laws around cannabis sales and usage. Currently, cannabis is allowed in 24 states, 3 territories, and the District of Columbia.
Interestingly, the oldest legal text concerning cannabis dates back to the 1600s—when the colony of Virginia required every farm to grow and produce hemp.
Since then, cannabis use was fairly widespread until the 1930s when the Marihuana Tax Act was enforced, prohibiting marijuana federally but still technically allowing for medical use.
Today, the U.S. cannabis market is a $30 billion business. By the end of the decade, that number is expected to be anywhere from $58 billion to as much as $72 billion.
Similar to the U.S., Australia does not allow the use at the national level, but cannabis can be used legally in the Australian Capital Territory, which includes the capital Canberra.
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