Spain’s Public Hospitals Make Newsweek’s List of the World’s Best

Five Spanish hospitals have made it into the global ranking of the world’s best medical centres, compiled by the US magazine Newsweek together with the analytics firm Statista. All the Spanish institutions on the list are public hospitals: three are in Madrid, and two are in Barcelona.

Spain’s highest-ranked hospital is Hospital Universitario La Paz in Madrid, which placed 42nd worldwide. The medical centre has climbed significantly in recent years: in 2023 it sat in 53rd place. The second Spanish hospital on the list is Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre (50th), followed by Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón (68th).

Two Barcelona hospitals also entered the top 100: Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron (72nd) and Hospital Clínic Barcelona (75th).

Several more Spanish hospitals appeared in the extended top-250 list of the world’s best medical centres. These include Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal in Madrid (118th), Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona (120th), Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid (163rd), Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz in Madrid (168th), Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío in Seville (176th), Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro Majadahonda (202nd), and Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe in Valencia (210th).

The ranking takes into account publicly available indicators of healthcare quality, such as outcomes for specific treatments, hygiene measures, and patient-to-staff ratios.

The list is led by US medical centres including Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden.