Over the past two decades, South Korea has seen a more than 60 percent increase in
. While the country has also been increasing its doctor-to-population ratio, it has been nowhere near as fast. Having only increased by 1.2
since 2000, it is still well below the OECD average. This is because medical schools may only admit up to 3,058 total students per year, a quota that has not changed since 2006. However, new legislation is being discussed to increase this number by up to 3,000 additional admissions annually.
Rural-urban divide
With less than 10 percent of the national
population living in rural areas, the concentration of hospitals is naturally denser in urban locations. Medical care, ranging from facilities to personnel and even medical schools, is concentrated in and around the capital area of Seoul and the province of Gyeonggi. In a 2021 survey, 63 percent of
doctors reported that they had studied in Seoul, while about 39 percent of doctors had also grown up there. With ever-increasing urbanization and overcrowding of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, the government shifted the administrative capital to a new planned city, Sejong, in 2012.
Medical expenditure and insurance
In 2022, total
medical expenditure exceeded 100 trillion South Korean won for the first time, with around 65 percent coming from Korea’s universal healthcare system, the
National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). While coverage is universal, with contributions being paid via a payroll tax split between employers and employees, it is also limited. This means that most
Korean households pay for additional private health insurance. Expenditure and premiums both increased as healthcare costs continue to rise.
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