
Last year, the Health Care Index released a list of the 89 countries that had the top-performing healthcare systems around the world, based on criteria like general quality of service, cost, infrastructure, employed healthcare professionals, medicine availability, and government readiness. Australia came in at the very impressive spot of ninth, meeting high standards despite facing a global health crisis.
After the successful rollout of vaccines to residents, and now that some states have met vaccination milestones, how does Australian healthcare now fare in the list?
Australia comes in at 6th out of 89 countries this year, showing a significant improvement when it comes to meeting the set criteria for healthcare, particularly government readiness, as seen in the vaccine production, procurement, and distribution. A lot of milestones have been met in some states, which could mean a better hope of reopening and going back to normal soon.
Rank | Country | Health Care Index (Overall) | Infrastructure | Professionals | Cost | Medicine Availability | Government Readiness |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | South Korea | 78.72 | 87.16 | 14.23 | 83.59 | 82.3 | 87.89 |
2 | Taiwan | 77.7 | 79.05 | 13.06 | 78.39 | 78.99 | 65.09 |
3 | Denmark | 74.11 | 90.75 | 30.01 | 82.59 | 92.06 | 96.3 |
4 | Austria | 71.32 | 86.18 | 20.25 | 78.99 | 88.23 | 91.8 |
5 | Japan | 70.73 | 78.77 | 21.6 | 74.88 | 74.18 | 93.2 |
6 | Australia | 67.99 | 92.58 | 17.37 | 96.22 | 67.51 | 89.91 |
7 | France | 65.38 | 77.86 | 13.24 | 71.82 | 55.1 | 81.38 |
8 | Spain | 64.66 | 86.28 | 34.25 | 75.81 | 83.82 | 96.8 |
9 | Belgium | 64.63 | 72.48 | 24.51 | 68.68 | 64.78 | 94.9 |
10 | United Kingdom | 61.73 | 88.63 | 14.66 | 75.61 | 90.25 | 88.41 |
11 | Netherlands | 60.16 | 79.09 | 13.56 | 69.93 | 67.29 | 85.03 |
12 | Finland | 59.6 | 77.76 | 13.41 | 68.97 | 59.65 | 84.59 |
13 | Thailand | 59.52 | 98.7 | 29.05 | 94.99 | 98.74 | 96.1 |
14 | Czech Republic | 57.96 | 76.39 | 14.96 | 67.47 | 71.33 | 88.86 |
15 | Norway | 56.71 | 79.73 | 21.24 | 68.59 | 75.73 | 92.6 |
16 | New Zealand | 54.86 | 86.58 | 16.55 | 71.23 | 73.86 | 89.51 |
17 | Germany | 52.3 | 78.93 | 13.6 | 66.04 | 60.94 | 85.68 |
18 | Switzerland | 52.25 | 77.77 | 16.4 | 65.42 | 69.68 | 89.49 |
19 | India | 52.1 | 74.2 | 17.84 | 63.51 | 97.84 | 89.98 |
20 | United Arab Emirates | 51.99 | 68.21 | 14.95 | 60.36 | 55.08 | 88.74 |
21 | Israel | 50.15 | 73.53 | 13.84 | 62.22 | 74.19 | 87.72 |
22 | Portugal | 49.58 | 98.3 | 14.25 | 75.25 | 83.54 | 87.95 |
23 | Canada | 48.64 | 62.39 | 16.89 | 55.73 | 52.91 | 89.75 |
24 | Singapore | 48.54 | 82.67 | 13.35 | 66.15 | 81.98 | 81.63 |
25 | Ecuador | 48.27 | 69.37 | 45.24 | 59.16 | 66.11 | 98.2 |
26 | Greece | 48.13 | 96.87 | 19.39 | 86.79 | 98.21 | 91.2 |
27 | Argentina | 47.15 | 78.03 | 20.31 | 63.08 | 75.19 | 92.1 |
28 | Sweden | 46.24 | 70.06 | 25.05 | 58.53 | 62.6 | 95.1 |
29 | Mexico | 45.84 | 75.2 | 21.56 | 60.99 | 66.54 | 92.7 |
30 | United States | 45.62 | 84.18 | 13.1 | 65.52 | 76.28 | 76.21 |
31 | Lithuania | 45.3 | 83.43 | 14.65 | 64.98 | 85.77 | 88.38 |
32 | Estonia | 45.3 | 71.12 | 42.86 | 58.62 | 64.48 | 97.8 |
33 | Qatar | 45.29 | 67.54 | 51.28 | 56.77 | 60.69 | 98.5 |
34 | Malaysia | 45.1 | 64.17 | 15.05 | 54.94 | 52.11 | 88.89 |
35 | Colombia | 44.72 | 78.39 | 19.88 | 62.1 | 74.03 | 91.7 |
36 | Hong Kong | 44.55 | 98.1 | 14.71 | 66.02 | 64.34 | 88.47 |
37 | Italy | 44.43 | 83.38 | 23.66 | 87.03 | 98.43 | 94.3 |
38 | Philippines | 43.06 | 85.38 | 13.2 | 64.9 | 72.19 | 80.68 |
39 | Uruguay | 42.99 | 64.37 | 41.72 | 54.02 | 55.79 | 97.5 |
40 | Sri Lanka | 42.92 | 71.54 | 16.25 | 57.69 | 53.28 | 89.48 |
41 | Iceland | 42.5 | 65.97 | 13.64 | 54.61 | 47.94 | 85.9 |
42 | Croatia | 42.31 | 88.12 | 14.15 | 72.84 | 91.25 | 87.87 |
43 | Jordan | 41.99 | 76.84 | 25.14 | 59.97 | 74.42 | 95.4 |
44 | Chile | 41.97 | 74.88 | 19.47 | 58.95 | 69.12 | 91.5 |
45 | Lebanon | 41.63 | 71.55 | 16.67 | 57.07 | 65.42 | 89.54 |
46 | China | 41.4 | 69.67 | 15.42 | 55.99 | 65.36 | 89.31 |
47 | Slovenia | 39.85 | 89.83 | 14.41 | 65.29 | 87.57 | 87.98 |
48 | Latvia | 39.65 | 75.65 | 13.89 | 58.23 | 65.85 | 87.81 |
49 | Hungary | 39.37 | 73.88 | 14.71 | 57.18 | 74.7 | 88.48 |
50 | Costa Rica | 39.03 | 68.39 | 18.75 | 54.18 | 65.81 | 90.86 |
51 | Poland | 39.02 | 67.54 | 13.18 | 53.73 | 47.83 | 78.63 |
52 | Indonesia | 38.95 | 76.14 | 13.81 | 58.14 | 62.74 | 87.58 |
53 | South Africa | 38.65 | 91.58 | 20.88 | 65.96 | 94.29 | 92.3 |
54 | Slovakia | 38.48 | 72.36 | 21.82 | 55.97 | 67.42 | 93.5 |
55 | Saudi Arabia | 38.43 | 66.73 | 13.73 | 53.04 | 50.02 | 86.72 |
56 | Panama | 38.13 | 90.55 | 31.24 | 79.67 | 97.21 | 96.6 |
57 | Belarus | 37.94 | 70.93 | 17.12 | 54.96 | 64.1 | 89.78 |
58 | Russia | 37.76 | 64.76 | 21.83 | 51.7 | 57.85 | 93.8 |
59 | Tunisia | 37.71 | 74.99 | 13 | 56.95 | 63.39 | 62.18 |
60 | Macedonia | 37.16 | 70.83 | 18.39 | 54.54 | 73.01 | 90.84 |
61 | Nepal | 37.08 | 71.76 | 14.07 | 54.98 | 73.65 | 87.85 |
62 | Peru | 36.74 | 74.26 | 47.16 | 56.1 | 80.07 | 98.4 |
63 | Brazil | 36.31 | 69.21 | 14.77 | 53.29 | 52.97 | 88.62 |
64 | Puerto Rico | 36.26 | 64.57 | 24.43 | 50.87 | 59.31 | 94.6 |
65 | Turkey | 35.96 | 97.4 | 14.43 | 68.59 | 92.72 | 88.32 |
66 | Vietnam | 35.85 | 45.46 | 12.81 | 40.81 | 43.32 | 60.14 |
67 | Bulgaria | 35.64 | 77.18 | 17.35 | 57.08 | 72.25 | 89.84 |
68 | Algeria | 35.61 | 72.04 | 19.72 | 54.41 | 71.68 | 91.6 |
69 | Romania | 35.32 | 75.31 | 14.86 | 55.96 | 64.15 | 88.65 |
70 | Kenya | 35.16 | 69.92 | 16.86 | 53.1 | 51.23 | 89.62 |
71 | Kuwait | 35.09 | 89.14 | 15.32 | 70.55 | 89.2 | 88.98 |
72 | Dominican Republic | 34.97 | 66.12 | 21.08 | 51.05 | 62.85 | 92.5 |
73 | Nigeria | 34.78 | 96.34 | 16 | 66.82 | 82.83 | 89.38 |
74 | Albania | 34.78 | 67.9 | 36.44 | 51.87 | 63.47 | 97.2 |
75 | Bosnia And Herzegovina | 34.63 | 70.82 | 12.91 | 53.3 | 59.3 | 60.88 |
76 | Cyprus | 34.61 | 72.31 | 13.46 | 54.06 | 58.37 | 85.01 |
77 | Serbia | 34.37 | 69.88 | 16.19 | 52.7 | 66.16 | 89.42 |
78 | Iran | 34.28 | 73.69 | 14.92 | 54.62 | 59.64 | 88.71 |
79 | Georgia | 33.84 | 70.73 | 22.76 | 52.88 | 64.43 | 93.9 |
80 | Ireland | 33.65 | 75.32 | 13.87 | 55.16 | 58.24 | 87.74 |
81 | Ukraine | 33.38 | 68.87 | 14.33 | 51.69 | 53.55 | 87.97 |
82 | Kazakhstan | 33.22 | 49.97 | 12.8 | 41.87 | 52.56 | 59.08 |
83 | Morocco | 33.01 | 67.36 | 15.17 | 50.73 | 63.2 | 88.91 |
84 | Egypt | 32.94 | 69.5 | 28.16 | 51.81 | 62.68 | 95.7 |
85 | Bangladesh | 32.89 | 70.58 | 22.84 | 52.34 | 68.18 | 94.2 |
86 | Azerbaijan | 32.88 | 77.8 | 13.76 | 56.06 | 59.35 | 87.38 |
87 | Iraq | 32.55 | 73.74 | 14.59 | 53.81 | 57.45 | 88.36 |
88 | Pakistan | 32.52 | 73.36 | 18.25 | 53.59 | 58.14 | 90.81 |
89 | Venezuela | 32.42 | 71.39 | 17.16 | 52.53 | 53.7 | 89.84 |
This year, the Australian government has allotted $98.3 billion to the healthcare budget for 2021-22. This accounts for 16.7% of the whole budget. The following are the specific numbers and percentages of the different sectors that benefitted from the budget:
The improvements made to both Medicare and private healthcare systems have given more Australians access to quality health services this year despite the difficulties of lockdowns and major anxiety brought about by COVID-19.
Significant positive changes have also been seen in help lines and support lines for people struggling with mental health issues, and more innovations in healthcare have come about, like self-care mobile applications for volunteers and digital support for kids and teens.
References:
Nina Alvarez is a Content Producer for Healthcare Channel. Her interests include writing, particularly about the healthcare sector and the many ways it can improve to further benefit people from all walks of life.