If a country’s average doctor visits are high, it could be easy to assume the population isn’t healthy. At the same time not going enough may seem like there’s an accessibility issue.

As with most sociological data, the devil is in the details. And differences in payment systems, insurance plans, and how healthcare is delivered all play a part into why going to the doctor is more common or not.

This chart, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, tracks the number of in-person doctor visits per year by country. Data is sourced from the OECD, as of 2021, or the latest year available. Figures are rounded.

Nurse Practitioners are Easing Patient Loads in Some Countries

At the top of the list, South Koreans visit the doctor the most, around 16 times a year on average. These visits are helped by the country’s famously fast and efficient healthcare sector.

Like the U.S., South Korea has a fee-for-service system which allows patients to access what they need—but with very little wait times.

However, unlike the U.S., its national insurance program covers over 70% of the medical bills, lessening individual costs.