ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ

As of October 2023, there was a total number of around**** thousand hospitals in Japan, following a continuous downward trend in the last decade. The prefecture with the highest number of hospitals among all 47 prefectures in Japan was during the measured period.

Availability of hospitals in Japan

Despite the highest number of existing hospitals in Tokyo Prefecture, when it comes to the density of hospitals, other prefectures surpass Tokyo by far. As of 2023, Kochi Prefecture ranked first among other prefectures with close to 18 hospitals available per 100 thousand inhabitants in that area. By contrast, only around 4.5 hospitals were provided per 100,000 inhabitants in Tokyo. 

Health care system in Japan

Every citizen in Japan is entitled to be covered by public health insurance under the National Health Insurance Act enacted in 1958. Public health insurance systems in the country can be classified into three categories; employees’ insurance, national insurance, and the medical service system for late-stage elderly. Those systems normally cover 70 percent of the medical expenses of any patient, leaving 30 percent of the cost to be paid by the patients at cashthe desks of medical institutes.
Citizens in Japan are also free to choose at any time from any of the medical organizations and doctors to be treated by. This highly advanced and fair health care system in Japan has contributed to its position as the nation with the highest life expectancy in the world, at approximately 84.4 years old. The high life expectancy of its citizens has led to an ageing society in Japan. Supplemented with a low fertility rate, Japan is now becoming one of the fastest aging populations in the world.