Health care in Turkey - Statistics and Facts

In 2003, the ministry of health in Turkey launched the Health Transformation Program (HTP), a ten-year health reform with the main goal to provide universal health coverage to all, especially the poor, amongst strengthening primary care services and expanding hospital capacity to improve health outcomes. Indeed, the percentage of the Turkish population covered by government health insurance has increased over 28 percent since 2002 and reached 98.5 percent by 2020. Health insurance is now mandatory for all under Turkey’s General Health Insurance (Genel Sağlık Sigortası, GSS) scheme with those earning under a certain threshold receiving free health care.

Health care expenditure

Given its status as an emerging economy, expenditure on health in Turkey per capita is low compared to developed European nations. With just 4.6 percent of GDP, Turkey’s spending on health care as a percentage of GDP positioned the nation in last place amongst other OECD-European countries. Despite this, total health expenditure has been steadily increasing throughout the past years and stood at nearly 354 billion Turkish lira in 2021 (approximately 19 billion U.S. dollars).

Health care resources

The general trend over the preceding 10 years has shown a rise in the number of hospitals in Turkey until 2019, then decreased slightly in 2020, measuring 1,534 hospitals in that year. In the same year, there were almost 157 thousand hospital beds in public hospitals and over 52 thousand in private hospitals; both figures have gone up year-on-year since 2000. Moreover, there were over 171 thousand health care physicians employed in Turkey that same year. That equated to roughly 488 citizens per physician and just 368 citizens to each nurse.

Public opinion on health care

Despite all the progress, in 2022 slightly over one-third of surveyed individuals in Turkey thought the quality of health care they have access to was good or very good. Furthermore, over half agreed that many people in Turkey could not afford good health care. Nevertheless, national health outcomes are still on a positive trend, with life expectancy at birth increasing and infant mortality rate decreasing.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Zeynep Dierks, Aug 14, 2023

Key insights

Health expenditure as share of GDP
4.9%
Number of hospitals in Turkey
1,547
Share of population covered by public health insurance in Turkey
98.8%
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Total health expenditure as share of GDP in Turkey from 2000 to 2021

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Total health expenditure as share of GDP in Turkey 2000-2021

Percentage of population covered by public or private health insurance in Turkey from 2002 to 2021

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Population covered by public or private health insurance in Turkey 2002-2021

Government vs private health expenditure in Turkey in 2021, by provider (in million Turkish lira)

Health Economics

Government vs private health expenditure in Turkey 2021, by provider

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