Comparable health system criteria

For a country to be recognised as having a comparable health system to ours it must fit within our criteria.

We consider a mix of public health, practice environment and registration indicators.

Indicators used

Public health indicators are, for example, life expectancy, mortality and other indicators from the World Health Organization.

Practice environment and registration indicators include:

  • the similarity of the registration system,
  • the percentage of registered medical practitioners per head of population,
  • and per capita total expenditure on health.

Current comparable health systems

The countries listed below are considered to have a health environment comparable to New Zealand:

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong
  • Iceland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Singapore
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • The Netherlands
  • United Kingdom
  • United States of America

Registration pathway

You can apply for registration if you have recent experience in a comparable health system. For more information, see the page for this pathway at the link below.