If a country’s average doctor visits are high, it could be easy to assume the population isn’t healthy. At the same time not going enough may seem like there’s an accessibility issue.
As with most sociological data, the devil is in the details. And differences in payment systems, insurance plans, and how healthcare is delivered all play a part into why going to the doctor is more common or not.
This chart, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, tracks the number of in-person doctor visits per year by country. Data is sourced from the OECD, as of 2021, or the latest year available. Figures are rounded.
At the top of the list, South Koreans visit the doctor the most, around 16 times a year on average. These visits are helped by the country’s famously fast and efficient healthcare sector.
Like the U.S., South Korea has a fee-for-service system which allows patients to access what they need—but with very little wait times.
However, unlike the U.S., its national insurance program covers over 70% of the medical bills, lessening individual costs.
On the other hand, Americans really don’t like visiting the doctor, averaging just two visits a year, one of the lowest in the world.
The OECD states that a large majority of the population faces high co-payments, which reduces regular checkups.
More importantly, nurse practitioners and other healthcare professionals play an outsized role in treating patients, especially those with chronic conditions, which means actual doctor visits fall.
This difference in health care delivery explains also why the Swedes, Canadians, and Finns don’t go to the doctor as much either, as they rely on other medical staff for most of their health-related needs.
As the world ages, the need for more doctors is only increasing. And some countries are able to attract them from across borders. Check out Europe’s Reliance on Foreign-Trained Doctors to see which ones are most successful.