Israel Ranks 28th In World Health

(June 21, 2000)

Israel ranks 28th in the World Health Organization's first analysis of the world's 191 health systems. France was judged as providing the best overall and most equitable health care, followed by Italy, San Marino, Andorra, Malta, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Austria, and Japan. The United States ranked 37th.

Israel's ranking is relatively low, considering its high life expectancy, low infant mortality rate, and the easy accessibility to medical care, with residents automatically covered by the National Health Insurance system.

Israel ranked better in some categories than others: It ranked 23rd in health level (disability-adjusted life expectancy), seventh in health distribution, 24th in overall goal attainment, 19th in health expenditure per capita, and 40th in health-level performance. Twenty-eight was its overall score.

WHO's assessment system was based on five indicators: overall level of population health; health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); and the distribution of the health system's financial burden within the population (who pays the costs).

Sources: Jerusalem Post, (June 21, 2000), World Health Organization