According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Health Data 2006 report, total health spending accounted for 10% of GDP for Greece and 8% for Japan. The average spending in OECD countries is 8.9%.

In terms of total health spending per capita, Greece's spending is 2162 USD and Japan's 2249 USD.

In Japan, 81.5% of health spending is funded by public sources. Greece has the lowest share of public spending on health among the European countries: 53% in 2004.

Both countries hold a record in the number of doctors per capita.
Greece has more doctors than in any other OECD country and Japan has fewer doctors per capita than in most other OECD countries. In 2004, Greece reached 4.9 practicing doctors per 1000 population while Japan had 2 (the average in OECD countries is 3).

On the other hand, Japan had 9 nurses per 1000 population in 2004 and Greece 3.8 in 2002.

And the records continue...

According to the same report, Japan had the highest number of "acute care" hospital beds of all OECD countries, with 8.4 beds per 1000 population. The number in Greece was 3.8 per 1000 population in 2002.

Japan holds another record. In 2002 Japan had by far the highest number of computed tomography (CT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units, with 93 CT scanners per million population and 35 MRI units. In Greece, the number of CT scanners stood at 17.1 per million population in 2002 and the number of MRIs remained among the lowest in 2002.

In 2004, the life expectancy in Greece stood 79 years. The same year, Japan enjoyed the highest life expectancy among OECD countries, with 82.1 years for the whole population.

Greece registered in 2004 the highest rate of daily smokers among adults (38.6%, 13 percentage points higher than the average of 25.5%).
In Japan the smoking rate is high too, with almost 30% of adults reporting to smoke every day in 2004.

Obesity
In Greece the obesity rate among adults reached 21.9% in 2003, while in Japan was 3.2% , the lowest among the OECD countries, together with Korea.

Source: OECD Health Data 2006