The table compares three indicators of medical care – physicians per 1,000 people, hospital beds per 1,000 people, and average length of hospital stay – in Austria, France and Sweden in 1980, 1990 and 2000.
Overall, Sweden recorded the highest figures for all categories, while France experienced declines in physicians and average hospital stay. Notably, Austria saw increases in physicians and hospital beds throughout the period.
Focusing first on physicians, Sweden had the highest figures overall, rising from 3.6 to 3.8 by 2000. France, in turn, recorded 2.4 in 1980, a figure that then dropped to 2.2 in 1990 and 1.3 in 2000. As for Austria, it experienced a steady rise from 0.8 to 1 by 2000.
Turning to hospital beds, Sweden had by far the highest figure in 1980, at 6.4, which remained unchanged in 1990, after which it increased to 6.9 in 2000. Notably, starting at 1.4 in 1980, Austria witnessed a significant increase to 3.1 in 1990 and 3.7 in 2000, whereas France started at just 0.2, quadrupled to 0.8 in 1990, and then doubled to 1.6 in 2000.
As for average hospital stay, Sweden was the leading country in all three years and finished at 21 at the end of the period, despite a slight decrease from 23 to 18 in 1990. By contrast, France experienced a steady drop from 9 to 7 in 1990 and to 5 in 2000, while Austria recorded the same figure(18) at both the beginning and the end, although it saw a sharp drop to 6 in 1990.