Health at a Glance compares key indicators for population health and health system performance across OECD member countries, accession candidates and key partner countries. Analysis draws from the latest comparable official national statistics and other sources. This 2023 edition presents the latest comparable data, illustrating differences across countries and over time in terms of health status, risk factors for health, access to and quality of care, and health resources. This edition includes a thematic chapter on digital health, which measures the digital readiness of OECD countries’ health systems, and outlines what countries need to do to accelerate the digital health transformation.

Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators compares key indicators for population health and health system performance across the 38 OECD member countries. Accession candidates and key partner countries are also included for some indicators – Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, People’s Republic of China (China), Croatia, India, Indonesia, Peru, Romania and South Africa.

In 2019, prior to the pandemic, OECD countries spent on average 8.8% of GDP on healthcare, a figure relatively unchanged since 2013. By 2021, this proportion had jumped to 9.7%. However, 2022 estimates point to a significant fall in the ratio to 9.2%, reflecting a reduced need for spending to tackle the pandemic but also the impact of inflation.

This chapter analyses a core set of indicators on health and health systems. Country dashboards and OECD snapshots shed light on how countries compare across five dimensions: health status, risk factors for health, access, quality, and health system capacity and resources. Quadrant charts illustrate how much health spending is associated with health outcomes, access and quality of care.

OECD countries are struggling to maximise the value from digital health because technologies and the data environment are often outdated and fragmented. This chapter explores the concept of digital health readiness – assessing the policy, analytic, technical and social environment that enables successful use of digital health. The concept of readiness is taking on increased urgency with the realisation that digital health is an emerging determinant of health. The chapter first looks at the policy components of an integrated digital health ecosystem to establish dimensions of digital health readiness – analytic, data, technology and human factor readiness. It then compiles and analyses indicators to measure readiness in these dimensions. The chapter concludes with a brief exploration of digital transformation as a determinant of health, providing some examples of the benefits of digital health in acute care to lower costs and improve the patient experience.