As Warren Buffett popularized: “Price is what you pay, value is what you get”.

As Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins details below, just because someone pays the most, doesn’t mean that they extract the biggest payoff from a product or service.

Today’s visual from Our World in Data that compares life expectancy with healthcare spending per capita hints at exactly this paradox.

The Data on Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Spending

Below is the data for 51 countries for the year 2023:

RankCountryLife expectancy (2023)Health expenditure per capita (2023)--Average79.74$3,986

1	🇯🇵 Japan	84.71	$4,806
2	🇰🇷 South Korea	84.33	$4,055
3	🇨🇭 Switzerland	83.95	$7,930
4	🇦🇺 Australia	83.92	$5,778
5	🇮🇹 Italy	83.72	$4,046
6	🇪🇸 Spain	83.67	$3,901
7	🇫🇷 France	83.33	$6,036
8	🇳🇴 Norway	83.31	$7,424
9	🇲🇹 Malta	83.30	$4,941
10	🇸🇪 Sweden	83.26	$6,204
11	🇮🇸 Iceland	82.69	$5,228
12	🇨🇦 Canada	82.63	$5,981
13	🇮🇪 Ireland	82.41	$5,689
14	🇮🇱 Israel	82.41	$3,154
15	🇵🇹 Portugal	82.36	$3,906
16	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	82.23	$6,078
17	🇳🇱 Netherlands	82.16	$6,273
18	🇧🇪 Belgium	82.12	$6,123
19	🇳🇿 New Zealand	82.09	$4,938
20	🇦🇹 Austria	81.96	$6,361
21	🇩🇰 Denmark	81.93	$5,823
22	🇫🇮 Finland	81.91	$5,375
23	🇬🇷 Greece	81.86	$2,943
24	🇨🇾 Cyprus	81.65	$3,869
25	🇸🇮 Slovenia	81.60	$4,118
26	🇩🇪 Germany	81.38	$7,248
27	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	81.30	$5,413
28	🇨🇱 Chile	81.17	$2,964
29	🇨🇷 Costa Rica	80.80	$1,565
30	🇨🇿 Czechia	79.83	$3,943
31	🇺🇸 United States	79.30	$12,023
32	🇪🇪 Estonia	79.15	$2,921
33	🇵🇱 Poland	78.63	$3,125
34	🇭🇷 Croatia	78.58	$2,751
35	🇸🇰 Slovakia	78.34	$2,672
36	🇨🇳 China	78.20	$1,086
37	🇵🇪 Peru	77.74	$817
38	🇨🇴 Colombia	77.73	$1,537
39	🇦🇷 Argentina	77.40	$2,850
40	🇹🇷 Turkey	77.16	$1,846
41	🇭🇺 Hungary	77.02	$2,613
42	🇱🇻 Latvia	76.19	$2,494
43	🇱🇹 Lithuania	76.03	$3,224
44	🇷🇴 Romania	75.94	$2,373
45	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	75.64	$2,612
46	🇲🇽 Mexico	75.07	$1,244
47	🇧🇷 Brazil	74.87	$1,661
48	🇮🇳 India	71.70	$290
49	🇺🇦 Ukraine	71.63	$1,429
50	🇮🇩 Indonesia	71.15	$376
51	🇿🇦 South Africa	65.45	$1,218

The clear takeaway is that while most high and upper-middle income countries cluster around the same trajectory, the United States is a clear outlier.

On average, the countries on the above list have a life expectancy of 79.74 years for a cost of $3,986 per person, while the U.S. has a life expectancy of 79.3 and spend of $12,023 per person.

Peer countries (Canada, UK, Germany, Japan, France, Italy) spend about half of what the U.S. does on healthcare per capita on average, but all have better life expectancy outcomes.

Why is the U.S. an Outlier?

While the U.S. excels in advanced and specialized medical care, life expectancy outcomes are held back by lifestyle and social factors rather than clinical capability.

Higher rates of obesity, chronic disease, opioid overdoses, gun violence, and traffic fatalities all weigh on average lifespan.

At the same time, healthcare access is uneven, with large gaps by income, race, and geography. As a result, additional spending often goes toward higher prices and end-of-life care, producing diminishing returns in overall life expectancy.

View the highest and lowest life expectancy rates around the world in this map.

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