Hospital beds

In some nations concern about the length of hospital waiting lists reaches the news headlines whilst in other countries medical staff are still struggling to provide even the most basic health care service. High-income countries tend to have more doctors per person than low or middle-income economies but there are exceptions – many countries of the former Soviet Union have very high rates of access.

Health care facilities and quality of treatment can vary greatly both between and within countries. The availability of a hospital bed may mean anything from a private room in a well equipped hospital to an overcrowded bed in a rural clinic many hours walk away. Likewise a doctor may mean anything from a highly qualified specialist surgeon to a recently trained medical assistant.