Spot The Odd One Out: Life Expectancy Vs Healthcare Spending

As Warren Buffett popularized: “Price is what you pay, value is what you get”.

As Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins details below, just because someone pays the most, doesn’t mean that they extract the biggest payoff from a product or service.

Today’s visual from Our World in Data that compares life expectancy with healthcare spending per capita hints at exactly this paradox.

The Data on Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Spending

Below is the data for 51 countries for the year 2023:

Rank
Country
Life expectancy (2023)
Health expenditure per capita (2023)
1
🇯🇵 Japan
84.71
$4,806
2
🇰🇷 South Korea
84.33
$4,055
3
🇨🇭 Switzerland
83.95
$7,930
4
🇦🇺 Australia
83.92
$5,778
5
🇮🇹 Italy
83.72
$4,046
6
🇪🇸 Spain
83.67
$3,901
7
🇫🇷 France
83.33
$6,036
8
🇳🇴 Norway
83.31
$7,424
9
🇲🇹 Malta
83.30
$4,941
10
🇸🇪 Sweden
83.26
$6,204
11
🇮🇸 Iceland
82.69
$5,228
12
🇨🇦 Canada
82.63
$5,981
13
🇮🇪 Ireland
82.41
$5,689
14
🇮🇱 Israel
82.41
$3,154
15
🇵🇹 Portugal
82.36
$3,906
16
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
82.23
$6,078
17
🇳🇱 Netherlands
82.16
$6,273
18
🇧🇪 Belgium
82.12
$6,123
19
🇳🇿 New Zealand
82.09
$4,938
20
🇦🇹 Austria
81.96
$6,361
21
🇩🇰 Denmark
81.93
$5,823
22
🇫🇮 Finland
81.91
$5,375
23
🇬🇷 Greece
81.86
$2,943
24
🇨🇾 Cyprus
81.65
$3,869
25
🇸🇮 Slovenia
81.60
$4,118
26
🇩🇪 Germany
81.38
$7,248
27
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
81.30
$5,413
28
🇨🇱 Chile
81.17
$2,964
29
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
80.80
$1,565
30
🇨🇿 Czechia
79.83
$3,943
31
🇺🇸 United States
79.30
$12,023
32
🇪🇪 Estonia
79.15
$2,921
33
🇵🇱 Poland
78.63
$3,125
34
🇭🇷 Croatia
78.58
$2,751
35
🇸🇰 Slovakia
78.34
$2,672
36
🇨🇳 China
78.20
$1,086
37
🇵🇪 Peru
77.74
$817
38
🇨🇴 Colombia
77.73
$1,537
39
🇦🇷 Argentina
77.40
$2,850
40
🇹🇷 Turkey
77.16
$1,846
41
🇭🇺 Hungary
77.02
$2,613
42
🇱🇻 Latvia
76.19
$2,494
43
🇱🇹 Lithuania
76.03
$3,224
44
🇷🇴 Romania
75.94
$2,373
45
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
75.64
$2,612
46
🇲🇽 Mexico
75.07
$1,244
47
🇧🇷 Brazil
74.87
$1,661
48
🇮🇳 India
71.70
$290
49
🇺🇦 Ukraine
71.63
$1,429
50
🇮🇩 Indonesia
71.15
$376
51
🇿🇦 South Africa
65.45
$1,218
—
Average
79.74
$3,986

The clear takeaway is that while most high and upper-middle income countries cluster around the same trajectory, the United States is a clear outlier.

On average, the countries on the above list have a life expectancy of 79.74 years for a cost of $3,986 per person, while the U.S. has a life expectancy of 79.3 and spend of $12,023 per person.

Peer countries (Canada, UK, Germany, Japan, France, Italy) spend about half of what the U.S. does on healthcare per capita on average, but all have better life expectancy outcomes.

Why is the U.S. an Outlier?

While the U.S. excels in advanced and specialized medical care, life expectancy outcomes are held back by lifestyle and social factors rather than clinical capability.

Higher rates of obesity, chronic disease, opioid overdoses, gun violence, and traffic fatalities all weigh on average lifespan.

At the same time, healthcare access is uneven, with large gaps by income, race, and geography. As a result, additional spending often goes toward higher prices and end-of-life care, producing diminishing returns in overall life expectancy.

View the highest and lowest life expectancy rates around the world in this map.