It is indeed very strange that Korea and Japan should have 400% more hospital beds per capita than the U.S., Canada, or Scandanavia. I tried to dig into the OEC

It is indeed very strange that Korea and Japan should have 400% more hospital beds per capita than the U.S., Canada, or Scandanavia. I tried to dig into the OECD methodology[0] to see if they mentioned anything noteworthy, but nothing grabbed my attention. Their notes about the U.S.[1] and Korea[2] seem pretty similar. I'm wondering if in Japan and Korea, people stay in hospitals for longer periods for the same condition than in the U.S. For example, in the U.S. mothers giving birth would stay in the hospital for a week or more in 1950s from what I heard, but these days they are discharged after a couple days. What's a typical stay for uncomplicated childbirth in Japan and Korea? If it's a week or 10 days, then that would give a possible datapoint for having many more beds. [0] https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_REAC https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_REAC [1] Notes about the United States: Coverage: AHA-registered hospitals in the United States. U.S. hospitals located outside the United States are excluded. Includes all the AHA registered hospital beds for all types of hospitals. Estimates are for all AHA registered hospitals. AHA-registered hospitals include facilities such as short-term general, psychiatric hospitals, wards, rehabilitation institutes, maternity homes, tuberculosis hospitals, leprosariums and alcoholic treatment institutions. Estimates exclude U.S. associated areas such as Puerto Rico and AHA non-registered hospitals. [1] Notes about the Korea: Coverage: Hospitals: all sorts of medical institutions equipped with wards of at least 30 beds. Excludes day-care beds, emergency beds, surgical tables, recovery trolleys, delivery beds and cots for normal neonates.