185 - The Patients Per Doctor Map of the World
“This poster (published in September 2007) hangs on the wall of waiting rooms at the doctor. This way we let Dutch people know how privileged they are when it comes to medical care, and thus how appropriate it would be for them to help Doctors of the World help the less privileged.”
Remarkably, Cuba leads the world (or at least those countries shown on this map) in the patients per doctor ratio. Other countries doing very well include the successor states to the communist bloc nations, which generally had good (and cheap) health care, and the developed (capitalist) nations in Europe and beyond - although the Netherlands is quite far down, and behind neighbouring countries such as Denmark, Belgium, France and Germany, if ever so slightly.
Here’s the complete list:
Cuba 170
Belarus 220
Belgium 220
Greece 230
Russia 230
Georgia 240
Italy 240
Turkmenistan 240
Ukraine 240
Lithuania 250
Uruguay 270
Bulgaria 280
Iceland 280
Kazakhstan 280
Switzerland 280
Portugal 290
France 300
Germany 300
Hungary 300
South Korea 300
Spain 300
Denmark 310
Sweden 310
Finland 320
Netherlands 320
Norway 320
Argentina 330
Latvia 330
Ireland 360
Uzbekistan 360
Mongolia 380
United States 390
Australia 400
Kirgizstan 400
Poland 400
New Zealand 420
Great Britain 440
Qatar 450
Canada 470
Jordan 490
Tajikistan 490
Japan 500
Mexico 500
Venezuela 500
Romania 550
Ecuador 650
North Korea 650
Panama 700
Syria 700
Bosnia-H. 750
Colombia 750
Lybia 750
Oman 750
Saudi Arabia 750
Tunisia 750
Turkey 750
Bolivia 800
Peru 850
Algeria 900
Bahrain 900
Brazil 900
Chile 900
Paraguay 900
China 950
Guatemala 1.100
Jamaica 1.200
South Africa 1.300
Malaysia 1.400
Pakistan 1.400
Iraq 1.500
India 1.700
Laos 1.700
Honduras 1.800
Philippines 1.800
Sri Lanka 1.800
Egypt 1.900
Vietnam 1.900
Morocco 2.000
Iran 2.200
Suriname 2.200
Botswana 2.500
Nicaragua 2.700
Thailand 2.700
Myanmar 2.800
Yemen 3.000
Namibia 3.300
Madagascar 3.400
Bangladesh 3.800
Haiti 4.000
Sudan 4.500
Nepal 4.800
Afghanistan 5.300
Cameroon 5.300
Cambodia 6.300
Zimbabwe 6.300
Kenia 7.100
Indonesia 7.700
Zambia 8.300
D.R. Congo 9.100
Gambia 9.100
Mauritani 9.100
Angola 12.500
C.A.R. 12.500
Mali 12.500
Uganda 12.500
Senegal 16.500
Bhutan 20.000
Eritrea 20.000
Lesotho 20.000
Papua NG 20.000
Rwanda 20.000
Benin 25.000
Chad 25.000
Niger 25.000
Somalia 25.000
Burundi 33.500
Ethiopia 33.500
Liberia 33.500
Mozambique 33.500
Malawi 50.000
Tanzania 50.000
This map was found here at adsoftheworld.com.
>>Remarkably, Cuba leads the world (or at least those countries shown on this map) in the doctors per patient ratio. <<
Ummm, shouldn’t this be patients per doctor ratio? Even at my most hypochondriac I’ve never felt the need to have my own medical team of 440 doctors, let alone 7,700.
Comment by bingley — October 17, 2007 @
Erhm, you’re quite right, bingley! 7.700 doctors, think about *that* bill.
Comment by strangemaps — October 17, 2007 @
That is interesting. Cuba’s medical system is legendary, but it’s surprising to see Belarus, Russia etc doing so well. Up the Reds!
Of course, quantity isn’t necessarily indicative of quality; France usually gets among the top marks from the WHO, and Scandivia generally dominates HDI rankings - yet these seem to be lagging behind most of Europe in the patient:doctor ratio.
Comment by Dave On Fire — October 17, 2007 @
[...] 185 - The Patients Per Doctor Map of the World « strange maps (tags: ib_development y9_development_indicators) [...]
Pingback by links for 2007-10-17 | geographyalltheway.com Updates — October 17, 2007 @
Remarkably, Israel has vanished from the map. This must refelct the cartographer’s wishes. Let the liberal flannelmouthing about this begin!
Comment by Cappy — October 17, 2007 @
I would’ve liked to see where Albania lay.
On the one hand, Albania has a reputation for being one of the poorest countries of Europe - I read about a renowned world traveller that said Tirane was the one glaring exception to the rule that European capitals are delightful historical treasures. And the poor countries generally have the highest patient-to-doctor ratios.
On the other hand, its years behind the Iron Curtain, with its attention to training doctors, should bring its ratio down somewhat.
Comment by Darrel Jones — October 18, 2007 @
’strange maps’. - Eine Blog-Empfehlung
Vorstellung eines meiner LieblingsBlogs. Es geht um Karten, um Visualisierungen. (Wen’s interessiert. Ich liebe Karten.)
Der Blog heißt ‘Strange Maps’.
Eine Empfehlung für Liebhaber.
…
Trackback by kellerabteil — October 18, 2007 @
Interesting map, but of course, the spatial variation within countries is so important too! All those MD specialists on Park Avenue in NYC don’t do much good for folks in Appalachia or downtown Newark, NJ.
Great stuff, Strange Maps!
Comment by lichanos — October 18, 2007 @
[...] in Daily life, Government, Medical tagged healthcare at 10:14 am by LeisureGuy How about this map of the world done via [...]
Pingback by More on healthcare « Later On — October 18, 2007 @
Not particularly surprising to see Cuba have those numbers at all: the only information you can get out of Cuba comes from the communist dicatatorship, who will say whatever they think sounds good.
Comment by Christopher Taylor — October 18, 2007 @
[...] Strange maps has a map that shows the number of patients per doctor in every country. [...]
Pingback by maxpagels.com — October 20, 2007 @
[...] 185 - The Patients Per Doctor Map of the World « strange maps [...]
Pingback by del.icio.us bookmarks for December 25th through October 25th | episcopophagous — October 26, 2007 @
[...] Patients per Doctor: Oz ain’t brilliant October 29th, 2007 — Dave Bath From the always interesting Strange Maps site comes a map of the world made up of patient/doctor ratios, which you can see here. [...]
Pingback by Patients per Doctor: Oz ain’t brilliant « Balneus — October 29, 2007 @
Where is Israel?
Comment by goethe girl — October 29, 2007 @
If Cuba has so many doctors, why does Castro import his personal physician from abroad?
Comment by goethe girl — October 29, 2007 @
[...] October 2007 Filed under: health — Kim Dionne @ 8:48 pm Tags: health Strange maps recently posted a map showing the great cross-national disparity of access to doctors in the world. An equally [...]
Pingback by Patients per doctor « haba na haba — October 31, 2007 @
It’s a shame Antarctica doesn’t appear. What with all the cross-trained people working for Polar Services, I’d imagine the ratio is around 30:1 down there.
Comment by Myself — November 1, 2007 @
Doctors are not enough, you need medicaments and hospitals.
Great site.
Comment by VS — November 1, 2007 @
“the communist bloc nations, which generally had good (and cheap) health care…”
I cannot allow this historical fraud to pass unanswered. Communist countries had “good” medical care for the Party elite and for tourists. For the people, there was “free” medical care, which was worth little more than the price. It was notorious in the USSR that patients had to bring their own food, bedding, and even medicines, unless they were willing to settle for the dregs of the “official” system. Physicians were paid minuscule salaries, but there were repeated scandals over large bribes paid for admission to medical school - because patients routinely gave doctors cash payments to get more than minimal care.
Leftists such as Michael Moore extol the Cuban medical system. But hospitals for ordinary Cubans are filthy and lack supplies. Cuba has trained swarms of doctors, but there is a shortage of medical staff in Cuba, because the government sends them overseas to earn hard currency and prop up favored regimes, such as Venezuela.
Comment by Rich Rostrom — November 3, 2007 @
[...] Strange Maps has map showing the number of patients per doctor in different parts of the world. It may surprise you to know that Cuba has the best ratio. [...]
Pingback by Patients per Doctor World Map | Vector One — November 8, 2007 @
I thought this map was wonderful and passed it along to a bunch of people - but I’ve noticed that there’s been a slowdown of new maps - what’s the deal!? We’re addicted!
Comment by Haney Armstrong — November 9, 2007 @
[...] many inhabitants per each doctor do countries have? The strange maps blog has a map of the world which gives you the [...]
Pingback by Oliver’s entries » Patients-per-doctor map — November 9, 2007 @
hrehre
Comment by usuck — November 14, 2007 @
this is sooo lame niiiiiggggaaaaaaassssssss
Comment by usuck — November 14, 2007 @
[...] Patients per doctor Map of the World , [...]
Pingback by Procrastination Notes: Strange Maps « Addafication — December 5, 2007 @
[...] Like this map. [...]
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Pingback by mapa mundo: número de doentes por médico : Luis Carlos Madeira — December 8, 2007 @
[...] The Patients Per Doctor Map Of The World [...]
Pingback by Thomas Reiter, Blog » Blog Archiv » Sonderbare Landkarten — December 9, 2007 @
I cant find england
Comment by ryan in geography — December 10, 2007 @
[...] [Klick] (gleiche Seite, noch ein ganz anderes Thema) [...]
Pingback by Volker und Alex — ein Blog » Blog Archive » Damit wäre das endlich auch mal geklärt: — December 18, 2007 @
Very wonderful map!!
By the way, I can provide the data of Taiwan :
In 2006, the patient-to-doctor ratio is 577; whereas 2005 is 588; 2004 is 598 and 2003 is 617.
-By statistics from our Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan.
Comment by wovenmelta — January 5, 2008 @
u dont have samoa or burma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by shfd — January 30, 2008 @
As Rich pointed out, Cuba’s numbers shouldn’t be surprising, since they trade doctors for food and oil to other countries like Venezuela (who now sell them oil at below market prices, I believe). It’s actually an interesting; too bad they focus so much on quantity and not quality.
Comment by dashofpanache — February 6, 2008 @
[...] gráfico nos muestra el número de habitantes por doctor, dependiendo de la zona del mundo donde se [...]
Pingback by » Infografía online (y III) Noticias y Novedades del Mundo: Noticias de actualidad de economía y nuevas tecnologías. Internet, Recursos Humanos, empresas y bolsa. Ocio y Negocio. Información para tomar decisiones. — February 28, 2008 @
[...] Le rapport nombre de patients/docteur dans le monde (ça fait réfléchir) [...]
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[...] Le rapport nombre de patients/docteur dans le monde (ça fait réfléchir) [...]
Pingback by Le Blavog » Blog Archive » Oh ! Les jolies cartes étranges ! — March 1, 2008 @
I’d like to see maps of costs and, more importantly, efficacy,
Comment by arthur l. finn — March 5, 2008 @
Yes, “Cuba’s system is legendary” - if you’re a member of the Cuban Communist Party. Not so for the “proles.”
Comment by Bob — June 19, 2008 @
[...] States, for example, the average doctor has 390 patients at any one time. (Interesting aside: Cuba has the lowest patient:doctor ratio worldwide at 170:1.) There is no way that any doctor can remember every visit from each of his or her 390 [...]
Pingback by El Oso » Archive » Should Patients Control Their Own Medical Records? Will Google Health Save Lives? — July 23, 2008 @