Health care in Turkey

Healthcare in Turkey consists of a mix of public and private health services. Turkey introduced universal health care in 2003. Known as Universal Health Insurance Genel Sağlık Sigortası, it is funded by a tax surcharge on employers, currently at 5%. Public-sector funding covers approximately 75.2% of health expenditures.

Despite the universal health care, total expenditure on health as a share of GDP is the lowest among OECD countries at 6.3% of GDP, much lower than the OECD average of 9.3%. Median age in Turkey is 30 years compared to 43.9 average in EU countries. Aging population is the prime reason for higher healthcare expenditure in Europe. Life expectancy is 78.5 years, compared with the EU average of 81 years. Turkey has a high obesity rate, with 29.5% of its adult population obese.