Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries, 2025

Canada has fewer doctors, hospital beds, MRI machines—and longer wait times—than most other countries with universal health care

Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries, 2025
by Mckenzie Moir, Fraser Institute



Study Highlights:

• Of the 31 high-income universal health-care countries, Canada ranks among the highest spenders, but ranks poorly on both the availability of most resources and access to services.
• After adjustments for differences in the age of the population of these 31 countries, Canada ranked third highest for spending as a percentage of GDP in 2023 (the most recent year of comparable data).
• Across 13 indictors measured, the availability of medical resources and timely access to medical services in Canada was generally below that of the average OECD country.
• In 2023, Canada ranked 27th (of 30) for the relative availability of doctors and 25th (of 30) for hospital beds dedicated to physical care. In 2022, Canada ranked 27th (of 31) for the relative availability of Magnetic Resonance Im-aging (MRI) machines, and 28th (of 31) for CT scanners.
• Canada ranked last (or close to last) on three of four indicators of timeliness of care.
• Notably, among the nine countries for which comparable wait times measures are available, Canada ranked last for the percentage of patients reporting they were able to make a same- or next-day appointment when sick (22%).
• Canada also ranked eighth worst for the percentage of patients who waited more than one month to see a specialist (65%), and reported the highest percentage of patients (58%) who waited two months or more for non-emergency surgery.
• Clearly, there is an imbalance between what Canadians get in exchange for the money they spend on their health-care system.

Link:
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/2025-10/comparing-performance-of-universal-health-care-countries-2025.pdf