This graphic shows data drawn from the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ‘Healthcare Outcomes Index 2014’. The index took into account a number of factors to try and produce a ranking system of the world’s best-performing countries in healthcare outcomes.

In order to produce the outcome rankings, the Economist Intelligence Unit used factors like life expectancy and infant mortality rates alongside weighted factors such as Disability-Adjusted Life Years ( and Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy.

The Economist Intelligence Unit also produced an overview of how much countries spend each year on healthcare per person. This spending ranking is based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

By plotting the Economist Intelligence Unit’s outcome rankings against spending rankings for each country, we are able to develop a global overview of how countries use their healthcare budgets.

So while a natural scepticism is justifiable ranks do themselves have value.

We would be very interested in your views on the data.  Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below!