Workforce in 2020, and beds from 2010 to 2020

In 2020, practising physicians in Japan are placed at 2.6 per 1,000 people, above Korea’s 2.5 and below the OECD average of 3.7. Nurses are placed at 12.1, above Korea’s 8.4 and an OECD average of 8.8. Physicians, public-health nurses, midwives, and dental hygienists are said to have risen through 2020, while dentists, pharmacists, nurses, and dental technicians fell compared with 2017. Those movements stay with those years.

Beds per 1,000 in Japan fell from 13.5 in 2010 to 12.6 in 2020, while Korea’s rose from 8.5 to 12.7. The OECD average is placed at 4.5. Medical institutions fell from 9,026 in 2005 to 8,238 in 2020; in 2022, medical corporations numbered 6,987 and public hospitals 1,211. A Medical Korea report and OECD Health Statistics 2022 are cited.

Institutions, equipment, and the health bureaus

Public hospitals, under Article 31 of Japan’s Medical Care Act, are set up by prefectures, municipalities, or a party designated by the minister, and also include Red Cross, Saiseikai, and Koseiren hospitals. In 2020, medical corporations were the most numerous founders. MRI units per million rose from 46.9 in 2011 to 57.4 in 2020, and CT units from 101.3 to 115.7, both above Korea and the OECD averages.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sits at the center, with a Health Bureau and a Health Policy Bureau, a PMDA founded in 2004, and regional welfare bureaus set up at eight sites in 2001. Health offices handle prevention and environmental hygiene; municipal health centers sit closer to everyday services. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. The essay compares components of the health-care system — workforce, institutions, equipment, and health-administration organizations — mainly for Japan, set beside Korea and OECD figures. Cited: a Medical Korea support-project report on an international medical-information portal; OECD Health Statistics 2022. In 2020, practising physicians in Japan (licensed doctors actually working, per 1,000 people) are placed at 2.6, above Korea’s 2.5 and below the OECD average of 3.7. Nurses per 1,000 in 2020: 12.1 in Japan, above Korea’s 8.4 and well above the OECD average of 8.8. Counts of physicians, public-health nurses, midwives, and dental hygienists rose continuously through 2020; dentists, pharmacists, nurses, and dental technicians fell in 2020 compared with 2017. Those movements stay with those years. Public hospitals, under Article 31 of Japan’s Medical Care Act: hospitals or clinics established by a prefecture, a municipality, or another party designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare; also defined to include hospitals of the Japanese Red Cross, Saiseikai, and Koseiren, as well as national and public universities and school-corporation hospitals such as private medical schools. Medical corporations, run by individuals or firms, split into foundational and association juridical persons; as of 2022 placed at 6,987, with public hospitals at 1,211, the most numerous type in Japan. Beds per 1,000: Japan 13.5 in 2010 to 12.6 in 2020; Korea 8.5 in 2010 to 12.7 in 2020, so that by 2020 Japan’s figure sat slightly below Korea’s. OECD average beds placed at 4.5, still far below Japan. Bed counts in hospitals, general clinics, and dental clinics fell continuously since 2005. Medical institutions: 9,026 in 2005 to 8,238 in 2020, a continuing decline. In 2020, by founder: medical corporations 5,687; public medical institutions (local governments, the Red Cross, Saiseikai, Koseiren, and the like) 1,199; government 321; individuals 156; social-insurance bodies 49. By bed size: 100–299 beds 3,828; 20–99 beds 2,970; 300–499 beds 1,046; 500 or more 394. Clinics on the scale of a Korean primary clinic, in 2020: 102,612 general clinics and 67,874 dental clinics, still rising. Hospitals fell from 2005 to 2020 while general clinics rose. Per 10,000 people in 2020: hospitals 0.65, general clinics 8.13, dental clinics 5.38. MRI units per million: 46.9 in 2011 to 57.4 in 2020, above Korea’s 34.2 and an OECD average of 17.8. CT units per million: 101.3 in 2011 to 115.7 in 2020, above Korea’s 40.6 and an OECD average of 27.7. Equipment figures stay with 2011 and 2020. Health administration at the national level: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; hygiene bureaus in the prefectures; health offices (hokenjo) and municipal health centers closer to residents. Prefectural and municipal hygiene sections mainly handle personnel, planning, budget, and general affairs; actual services are provided by health offices and health centers. The ministry covers social welfare, social security, public hygiene, and labor conditions and jobs — work likened to a combination of Korea’s health, employment, veterans, women’s, food-and-drug, and pension bodies — and has thirteen internal bureaus, including a Health Bureau (regional health through health offices; measures for Ebola, AIDS, tuberculosis, diabetes, and cancer; promotion of organ transplants) and a Health Policy Bureau (planning a quality, efficient medical-provision system; dissemination and improvement of health care). Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) founded in 2004 to ease health risks from drug side effects and infection via bio-derived products, and to handle screening and post-marketing safety information. Regional welfare bureaus, as local branches of the ministry, set up at eight sites nationwide in 2001, then offices in all forty-seven prefectures; they handle medical and pharmaceutical affairs, prevention, food and environmental hygiene, waste and pollution, and also supervise health-insurance associations, welfare pension funds, the National Hospital Organization, narcotics enforcement, and insurance medical institutions, including Japan Health Insurance Association branches and Social Insurance Medical Fee Payment Fund branches. Health offices (hokenjo): disease prevention, health promotion, environmental hygiene. After the Community Health Act their catchment widened and they became wider-area specialist hubs (information, research, planning); many services moved to municipal health centers and the number of health offices has tended to fall through consolidation. Duties include public medical projects, maternal, infant, and elderly health, dental health, mental health, and prevention of AIDS, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted disease, and other infectious disease. Municipal health centers sit closest to the community and provide everyday services.

Last updated: 14 November 2026