Health & Population · Glossary
Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)
SH.MED.BEDS.ZS
Definition
Hospital beds include inpatient beds available in public, private, general, and specialized hospitals and rehabilitation centers. In most cases beds for both acute and chronic care are included.
Methodology for Health & Population indicators
Health and population indicators come from national vital-registration systems, demographic and health surveys, and modeling by the UN Population Division and WHO. Mortality and morbidity estimates are often modeled rather than directly observed in lower-capacity statistical systems, which means some figures are interpolations between survey years. Life expectancy is a "period" measure based on current age-specific mortality, not a forecast of how long someone born today will actually live.
How to interpret
- Always check the unit and reporting year before comparing values across countries.
- NULL or "Not available" means the World Bank did not publish a value — we never estimate.
- Year-over-year changes can be driven by methodology updates, not just real economic shifts.
Related indicators in Health & Population
- Population ages 0-14 (% of total population)
- Net migration
- Population ages 65 and above (% of total population)
- Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
- Population, total
- Fertility rate, total (births per woman)
- Urban population (% of total population)
- Adolescent fertility rate (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19)