Health Spending & Health

People say the greatest wealth is health. And for some countries, being rich doesn't mean being healthy. A new study led by the University of Surrey shows that some countries with smaller GDPs, such as Iceland and Norway, are doing better on health—even though they don't spend as much on healthcare as some of the world's richest countries, including the US and Canada.

The researchers looked at 38 developed countries and measured how well each one turns healthcare spending into real results. They focused on things like life expectancy (预期寿命), disease prevention, and healthcare. And the results showed that it's not about how much money a country spends—it's how well it uses it.

The study looked at progress towards the UN's Sustainable (可持续的) Development Goal 3, or SDG 3, which is about helping people live healthy lives at all ages. And while richer countries often have bigger health budgets, that doesn't always lead to better results or healthier people. The research team found that countries that spend more money on preventing illness and have strong public healthcare systems are able to do more with the money they spend. Those that depend more on private care often don't see the same results, even if they spend more. The countries making the best progress towards SDG 3 were found to be Australia, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Israel.

The team also looked at how the environment affects health. They found that countries with strong environmental policies usually have better health outcomes too—showing a healthier environment may lead to healthier people.

Professor Ali Emrouznejad, who co-led the study, said this shows that countries should focus less on spending more and more on spending smarter. Building fair, efficient and sustainable health systems, he said, is the key to long-term health—not just having a large budget.