What percentage of the world Cannot afford healthcare?

Asked by: Ike Sporer  |  Last update: October 15, 2025
Score: 4.9/5 (23 votes)

In 2021, about 4.5 billion people, more than half of the global population, were not fully covered by essential health services.

How many people cannot afford healthcare in the world?

Despite the percentage of the global population not covered by essential health services decreasing by nearly 15% between 2000 and 2021, 4.5 billion people—more than half of the world population—were not fully covered by essential health services as of 2021.

What percentage of people can't afford healthcare?

Overall, 16.9% of Americans report at least 1 financial barrier. Among those with private insurance, the poor (28.4%), near poor (24.3%), and those with functional impairments (22.9%) were more likely to report avoiding care due to cost.

What percentage of the world has free healthcare?

The State of Universal Health Coverage in the World

In 2024, 73 of the 195 countries worldwide had UHC, resulting in around 69% of the world's population having some form of universal healthcare. UHC? The United States is the only developed country without health coverage for all of its citizens.

What are the statistics on lack of access to healthcare?

Characteristics of the Uninsured Population Ages 0-64, 2023

Adults ages 19 to 64 are more likely to be uninsured than children. In 2023, the uninsured rate for children was 5.3%, less than half the rate for adults at 11.1%. Uninsured rates in the U.S. still show clear racial and ethnic disparities.

The real reason American health care is so expensive

43 related questions found

What happens in America if you can't afford healthcare?

Americans are no longer taxed for not carrying health insurance. Medical debt contributes to a large number of bankruptcies in America. Access to quality primary care is critical, but doctors have the right to refuse patients without insurance or who are able to pay out-of-pocket expenses.

How many deaths due to lack of healthcare worldwide?

Our study found that nearly 8 million people die every year because of a lack of access to high-quality care.

Why is US healthcare so expensive?

There are many possible reasons for that increase in healthcare prices: The introduction of new, innovative healthcare technology can lead to better, more expensive procedures and products. The complexity of the U.S. healthcare system can lead to administrative waste in the insurance and provider payment systems.

What countries lack healthcare the most?

8 Countries with the Worst Healthcare Systems 2024
  • El Salvador. El Salvador has the lowest Health Index Score of 18.6, ranking this country as having the worst healthcare. ...
  • Honduras. ...
  • Nepal. ...
  • Paraguay. ...
  • Bolivia. ...
  • Sri Lanka. ...
  • Pakistan. ...
  • Libya.

Why is the US the only country without free healthcare?

Typical explanations include a history of individualistic culture, union bargaining, inflationary pressure, or favourable tax treatment for employer-sponsored health insurance (Scott 2023b).

What percentage of people can't afford medicine?

A poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation claims around 30% of adults report not taking their prescription meds because they're too pricey. One in five adults say they'd rather use over-the-counter drugs to avoid filling an expensive prescription, while some say they skip or take a smaller dose than they're prescribed.

Which country has the best healthcare?

The ten countries with the best healthcare are:
  • Australia (74.11)
  • Canada (71.32)
  • Sweden (70.73)
  • Ireland (67.99)
  • Netherlands (65.38)
  • Germany (64.66)
  • Norway (64.63)
  • Israel (61.73)

What is the poverty rate for healthcare?

The official poverty rate fell 0.4 percentage points, to 11.1%, in 2023. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2023 was 12.9%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from 2022. Meanwhile, 92.0% of the U.S. population had health insurance coverage for all or part of 2023, not statistically different from 2022.

How many people can't afford healthcare?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mar. 31, 2022 — An estimated 112 million (44%) American adults are struggling to pay for healthcare, and more than double that number (93%) feel that what they do pay is not worth the cost.

What country has the least medical debt?

Research based on available data from 2018 indicated that the amount of unaffordable health care by individuals in the USA (7.4%) was considerably higher than European states such as France where only 1.9% of people faced concerns regarding medical bills, Germany (2.4%), the UK (1.4%), the Netherlands (1.1%), and non- ...

Does Canada have free healthcare?

2, 3 These taxation-based, publicly funded, universal programmes cover core medical and hospital services for all eligible Canadians, and are free at the point of care (figure 1 ).

Where does America rank in healthcare?

The US health care system ranked last overall among 10 other high-income countries on key issues such as equity, access to care, and outcome measures, according to a new report, Mirror, Mirror 2024: A Portrait of the Failing US Health System, by The Commonwealth Fund.

What country has completely free healthcare?

However, Brazil is the only country in the world that offers free healthcare for all its citizens. Also, Norway is the first country in the world to implement a free healthcare policy as far back as 1912. Coincidentally, Norway is recognized as one of the healthiest countries in the world.

Which US state has the best healthcare?

  • Hawaii. #1 in Health Care. #34 in Best States Overall. ...
  • Massachusetts. #2 in Health Care. #10 in Best States Overall. ...
  • Connecticut. #3 in Health Care. #20 in Best States Overall. ...
  • New Jersey. #4 in Health Care. ...
  • Rhode Island. #5 in Health Care. ...
  • California. #6 in Health Care. ...
  • Maryland. #7 in Health Care. ...
  • New York. #8 in Health Care.

Who has the most expensive healthcare in the world?

The United States: the world's highest medical expenses

The United States has the most expensive healthcare system of any country. A medical consultation with a general practitioner costs, on average, $190 or around €170. A stay in hospital can result in bills amounting to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Why do hospitals charge so much for Tylenol?

According to AHA, the chargemaster aggregates the hospital's overall costs on delivering quality care to patients: “In order to take medications in a hospital, even over-the-counter medicines, they must be prescribed by a doctor (a little bit of cost for the doctor), that order gets transmitted to the pharmacy (a ...

Why is global health so bad?

The fact that the world is now short well over four million health-care workers, moreover, is all too often ignored. As the populations of the developed countries are aging and coming to require ever more medical attention, they are sucking away local health talent from developing countries.

What is the leading cause of death in the world?

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. This is the case in the U.S. and worldwide. More than half of all people who die due to heart disease are men.

Why doesn't the US have free healthcare?

Groups with significant economic resources have long been opposed to universal health insurance. We have a political system so sophisticated about finding the middle ground that we have had long periods in which the parties have been essentially even in their control of power in the national government.