Countries by UHC service coverage index

Canada ranks 1st in the UHC service coverage index with a score of 92 out of 100, while Chad ranks last at 193rd with a score of 26. The 66-point gap between them represents the widest possible spread across 193 countries measured in 2023. This ranking reflects differences in access to essential health services across reproductive, maternal, infectious disease, noncommunicable disease, and health system capacity domains.

Population & Health category

Ranking 2023

Countries by UHC service coverage index
Rank	Country	Value
1	Canada	92
2	Iceland	90
3	Australia	89
3	New Zealand	89
3	Norway	89
6	South Korea	88
6	Singapore	88
6	United Kingdom	88
6	United States	88
10	Germany	87
10	Switzerland	87
12	Belgium	86
12	Cuba	86
12	Finland	86
12	Japan	86
16	China	85
16	Denmark	85
16	Israel	85
16	Monaco	85
16	Netherlands	85
16	Sweden	85
16	Uruguay	85
23	Austria	84
23	Brazil	84
23	Brunei	84
23	Chile	84
23	Costa Rica	84
23	Kuwait	84
23	Qatar	84
23	Slovenia	84
23	Spain	84
23	United Arab Emirates	84
33	Czechia	83
33	Kazakhstan	83
33	Luxembourg	83
33	Portugal	83
33	Saudi Arabia	83
38	Barbados	82
38	Colombia	82
38	France	82
38	Ireland	82
38	Italy	82
38	Malta	82
38	Panama	82
38	Poland	82
38	Thailand	82
47	Antigua and Barbuda	81
47	Iran	81
47	Russia	81
47	Turkmenistan	81
51	Argentina	80
51	Bahamas	80
51	Belarus	80
51	Hungary	80
51	Malaysia	80
51	Seychelles	80
51	Saint Kitts and Nevis	80
51	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	80
51	Ukraine	80
60	El Salvador	79
60	Estonia	79
60	Mexico	79
60	Paraguay	79
60	Uzbekistan	79
65	Bahrain	78
65	Ecuador	78
65	Grenada	78
65	Lithuania	78
65	Slovakia	78
70	Greece	77
70	North Korea	77
70	Latvia	77
70	Romania	77
70	Türkiye	77
75	Croatia	76
75	Cyprus	76
75	Tunisia	76
78	Andorra	75
78	Dominica	75
78	Mauritius	75
78	Palau	75
78	Saint Lucia	75
78	Trinidad and Tobago	75
78	Venezuela	75
85	Jamaica	74
85	Jordan	74
85	Kyrgyzstan	74
85	San Marino	74
85	South Africa	74
85	Suriname	74
91	Bulgaria	73
91	Dominican Republic	73
91	Guyana	73
91	Oman	73
91	Serbia	73
96	Eswatini	72
96	Sri Lanka	72
96	Tajikistan	72
99	Albania	71
99	Cabo Verde	71
99	Egypt	71
99	Georgia	71
99	Libya	71
99	Maldives	71
99	Moldova	71
99	Tonga	71
99	Vietnam	71
108	Algeria	70
108	Belize	70
108	Mongolia	70
108	Montenegro	70
108	Nicaragua	70
108	Syria	70
114	Armenia	69
114	Bhutan	69
114	Fiji	69
114	India	69
114	North Macedonia	69
114	Philippines	69
120	Peru	68
121	Azerbaijan	67
121	Bolivia	67
121	Indonesia	67
121	Lebanon	67
125	Marshall Islands	66
125	Namibia	66
127	Micronesia	65
127	Morocco	65
127	Tuvalu	65
127	Palestine	65
131	Bosnia and Herzegovina	64
131	Honduras	64
131	Iraq	64
131	Laos	64
135	Cambodia	62
135	Nauru	62
135	Samoa	62
135	Zambia	62
139	Botswana	60
139	Sao Tome and Principe	60
141	Rwanda	59
141	Zimbabwe	59
143	Guatemala	58
143	Nepal	58
145	Kenya	57
146	Ghana	56
146	Pakistan	56
148	Lesotho	55
149	Bangladesh	54
149	Uganda	54
151	Gambia	53
152	Comoros	52
152	Malawi	52
152	Myanmar	52
152	Vanuatu	52
156	Kiribati	51
157	Mozambique	50
158	Equatorial Guinea	49
158	Liberia	49
158	Tanzania	49
161	Burundi	48
161	Cameroon	48
161	Gabon	48
161	Senegal	48
161	Sierra Leone	48
161	Sudan	48
161	Timor-Leste	48
168	Burkina Faso	47
168	Djibouti	47
168	Nigeria	47
168	Solomon Islands	47
172	Côte d'Ivoire	46
173	Republic of Congo	45
174	Angola	44
174	Haiti	44
176	Guinea	43
176	Guinea-Bissau	43
176	Yemen	43
179	Afghanistan	42
179	Togo	42
181	DR Congo	41
181	Mali	41
181	South Sudan	41
184	Eritrea	40
184	Mauritania	40
186	Central African Republic	39
186	Niger	39
188	Benin	38
189	Ethiopia	33
189	Madagascar	33
191	Papua New Guinea	32
192	Somalia	30
193	Chad	26

Analysis

The UHC service coverage index measures how broadly countries provide essential health services to their populations. It is defined as a composite index representing coverage of essential health services based on 14 tracer indicators in the areas of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and service capacity and access, presented on a scale of 0 to 100 index points. Values are absolute index scores, where higher scores indicate broader coverage. This dataset covers 193 countries, all with data from 2023, representing 100% recency within a seven-year window. All datapoints are classified as official-quality data, and no extreme outliers were detected using a three-standard-deviation threshold. Scores range from 26 to 92, a spread of 253.8%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by high-income countries in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Canada leads at rank 1 with a score of 92. Iceland follows at rank 2 with 90, and Australia, New Zealand, and Norway share rank 3 at 89. South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States all score 88 at rank 6. Germany and Switzerland score 87 at rank 10. The top 15 positions include only two non-European or non-Anglophone countries outside the Asia-Pacific region: Cuba, which scores 86 at rank 12, and Kuwait, which scores 84 at rank 23. This cluster of high-income nations holds scores between 83 and 92.

Notable anomalies appear in the middle of the ranking. Cuba ranks 12th with a score of 86, placing it above France (rank 38, score 82), Italy (rank 38, score 82), and Greece (rank 70, score 77). Uruguay ranks 16th with a score of 85, ahead of Austria (rank 23, score 84) and Poland (rank 38, score 82). Among middle-income countries, South Africa ranks 85th with a score of 74, while Eswatini, a neighboring country, scores 72 at rank 96. At the lower end, Sub-Saharan African nations occupy most of the bottom 50 positions, with Chad at rank 193 scoring 26, Somalia at rank 192 scoring 30, and Papua New Guinea at rank 191 scoring 32. Ethiopia and Madagascar share rank 189 with a score of 33.

This metric has several limitations specific to its construction. The index is composite, meaning it aggregates 14 tracer indicators, and a country's overall score may obscure uneven performance across individual health domains. Countries with strong performance in some tracer areas but weak performance in others will receive the same summary score as countries with more uniform coverage. The index does not measure health outcomes directly, only service coverage. Reporting reliability may vary across countries, particularly in low-income settings where administrative health data systems are less developed, which could affect the accuracy of underlying tracer indicators. The index also does not capture quality of care, financial protection, or whether services reach all population subgroups within a country.

Methodology

The metric is the UHC service coverage index, sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators under indicator code SH_UHC_SCI. It is defined as a composite index representing coverage of essential health services based on 14 tracer indicators in the areas of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and service capacity and access, presented on a scale of 0 to 100 index points. The data year is 2023. The dataset covers 193 countries, all of which have data from within the last seven years, representing 100% recency. All 193 datapoints are classified as official quality, meeting the 70% threshold. No extreme outliers were detected using a three-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change across the dataset is 1.7%, indicating low volatility. Scores range from 26 (Chad) to 92 (Canada), a spread of 253.8%. The index does not include measures of health outcomes, financial risk protection, or intra-country distributional equity.

Sources

World Bank