Global and digital healthcare – statistics and facts

Konrad Wolfenstein

4 years ago

Digital health is already a cornerstone of developed healthcare systems around the world. However, the definition of the term is broad. Related terms such as mHealth, telehealth, health informatics or especially eHealth are often used as synonyms. Decision-making aids in the form of data, figures, facts and statistics as a PDF for free download, see below.

Global and Digital Healthcare – Image: SOMKID THONGDEE|Shutterstock.com

Healthcare worldwide – statistics and facts

Over the past few decades, advances in technology and medicine have increased the life expectancy and overall health of people around the world. However, large inequalities in health and health care remain due to geography and wealth. For example, all twenty countries with the lowest life expectancy in 2018 were in Africa, while the countries with the highest life expectancy were mainly found in Europe and wealthy countries in Asia.

According to recent figures, the United States spends the highest percentage of its GDP on health among OECD countries. Per capita healthcare spending in the United States was around $10,200 in 2017, compared to $5,850 in Germany and $4,800 in Canada. The United States is also the country that spends the most on healthcare related to diabetes by a wide margin. Although obesity is a growing problem in many countries, the United States still has some of the highest rates in the world. However, rates of other common health risks are much higher in other countries. For example, male smoking populations are highest in Indonesia and Russia, while Seychelles and Uganda are the countries with the highest per capita alcohol consumption.

Just as there are inequalities in life expectancy around the world, there are also differences in the leading causes of death based on wealth. While the three leading causes of death in low-income countries are lower respiratory tract infections, diarrheal disease and heart disease, the leading causes in high-income countries are heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Leading causes of death in low-income countries also include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, all diseases that are not leading causes for middle- and high-income countries. In 2019, Lesotho, South Africa and the Philippines were the countries with the highest incidence rates of tuberculosis, while Eswatini, Lesotho and Mozambique reported the highest prevalence of new HIV infections.

Healthcare worldwide – Global health

Important note: The PDF is password protected.
Please get in contact with me. Of course, the PDF is free of charge. Important note: The PDF is password protected. Please contact me. Of course the PDF is free of charge.

English version – To view the PDF, please click on the image below.
English Version – To view the PDF, please click on the image below.

Global health – PDF download

Digital healthcare – statistics and facts

Digital health is already a cornerstone of developed healthcare systems around the world. However, the definition of the term is broad. Related terms such as mHealth, telehealth, health informatics or especially eHealth are often used as synonyms. Without question, digital health uses (latest) information and communication technologies to develop faster, more efficient and cost-reducing healthcare. Because healthcare reform (Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare”) aimed to increase efficiency, it was widely seen as a driving force for digital healthcare solutions in the United States. Yet many Americans have no real understanding of what terms like digital health, eHealth, or mHealth encompass.

The global digital health market was valued at around $88 billion in 2018. According to recent forecasts, this number will rise to over $500 billion by 2025. Mobile health and wireless healthcare are expected to be the key drivers of this growth. Digital health is also a reservoir for new investments, especially in start-ups. Funds invested increased rapidly from $1.1 billion in 2010 to nearly $14 billion in 2019. As expected, the United States is a leader in the digital health industry. The metro areas of San Francisco (Bay Area), New York City and Los Angeles are important epicenters of this sector.

The increasing use of eHealth solutions can be seen, for example, in the use of electrical patient records/electrical health data systems (EMR/EHR) by doctors. While the proportion of office-based physicians in the U.S. using such systems was about 18 percent in 2001, the percentage was about 86 percent in 2017. Nationally, physicians in Nevada, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin are leading the way in adopting them EPA systems. For some specialists, the adoption rate is even higher.

Telemedicine and telemedicine are also expected to become more important in the near future. The global telemedicine market is forecast to grow from around $45 billion in 2019 to nearly $180 billion in 2026. The acceptance and adoption rate of telemedicine services among Americans shows a stable increase over the past five years. However, virtual visits in particular, mostly in the form of live video consultations between patients and doctors, are expected to witness a massive breakthrough in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for social distancing and avoiding contact with other patients make it a very effective alternative for most non-urgent visits.

The rapid proliferation of internet usage, mobile devices and networks, social networks, etc. has been an essential enabler of the rise of digital health. Real-time data transfer and information exchange is of great benefit to both doctors and patients. However, many patients do not trust health data sharing due to cybersecurity concerns. On the other hand, patients can access an inexhaustible amount of health information via the Internet.