Table 1.
Mapping the country sample.
| Categories | Australia | Brazil | Germany | UK | USA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | |||||
| Government (during COVID-19 pandemic) | Federalist, decentralized with three tiers of government with separate responsibilities; Conservative national government, until May 2022, since then Labor Government with increase in female Ministers to now 44% | Federalist; decentralized; presidentialism with a national parliament divided between over 30 parties; far-right national government; 85% of congress members and most of the majors and governors are male | Federalist; decentralized; until October 2021 female Chancellor and coalition government led by Conservative Party; since then social democratic/green/liberal coalition, aiming for 50/50 female/male Ministers | Constitutional monarchy comprised of 4 nations; highly centralized though Scotland and Wales act as devolved administrations on health and education; government led by Conservative Party; 26% female Cabinet members | Federalist, decentralized with 3 separate government branches/bicameral legislation; split majorities in House and Senate with Republican President until January 2021; now Democrat President, some increase in % of women |
| Population, in millions | 26.1 | 215.4 | 83.9 | 68.5 | 334.8 |
| Total GDP, US dollars/capita | 60,575 | 15,417 | 58,674 | 51,374 | 69,558 |
| Health system | |||||
| Governance | National Health Service Medicare; UHC; hierarchy with some market; public-private provider mix strongly regulated; some decentralization, weak corporatism | Unified Health System (SUS); UHC; services state funded and implemented at federal, state and municipal levels; weak corporatism | Social Health Insurance (SHI), UHC, joint SHI self-administration/network governance; federalist, decentralized; strong corporatism | National Health Service (NHS), strong hierarchy with some market; centralized with devolution; weak corporatism | Strong market with very limited public services and insurances; market with some hierarchy and weak regulation; decentralized; some corporatism |
| Finance | Funded mainly by Medicare/national taxes with some private mix | Funded mainly by national taxes with some private insurance | Funded mainly by employer and employee contributions | Funded mainly by national taxes | Funded by private contributions, employers and state programs |
| Total health expenditure, % GDP | 9.4% | 9.6% | 12.5% | 12.8% | 16.8% |
| Provision | Public provision with some private mix; regulated and controlled by the government | Strong public provision with some private mix; regulated and controlled by the government | Public provision with strong private mix and joint SHI regulation and public control | Strong public provision with some private mix; regulated and controlled by the government | Strong private mix; little government regulation and weak public control |
| Gender equality | |||||
| UNPD Gender Inequality Index | 0.097 (rank 25) | 0.408 (rank 95) | 0.084 (rank 20) | 0.118 (rank 31) | 0.204 (rank 46) |
| Share of seats in Parliament, % women | 31% | 15% | 35% | 34% | 28% |
| MMR/100,000 live births | 6 | 60 | 7 | 7 | 19 |
| Global Gender Gap Index | 0.73 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.78 | 0.76 |
| COVID-19 | |||||
| New cases per M population | |||||
| •31 May 2020 | 0.49 | 100.21 | 5.45 | 21.92 | 62.19 |
| •31 May 2021 | 0.49 | 284.80 | 50.21 | 47.00 | 53.73 |
| •31 May 2022 | 1,333.36 | 121.65 | 343.68 | 70.84 | 301.36 |
| Deaths, confirmed per M population | |||||
| •31 May 2020 | <0.01 | 4.34 | 0.43 | 3.12 | 2.79 |
| •31 May 2021 | 0.00 | 13.85 | 1.92 | 0.69 | 2.72 |
| •31 May 2022 | 1.88 | 0.42 | 0.76 | 0.92 | 1.03 |
| Vaccinated, % population, 25 May 2022 | |||||
| •Fully | 84.93 | 77.49 | 76.87 | 73.15 | 66.60 |
| •At least partly | n/a | 85.85 | 76.92 | 78.29 | 77.68 |
| COVID-19 policy | Decentralized state-based public health legislation with lockdowns/social distancing policies; some centralized measures and funding; vaccines available but delayed rollout | Denialism at the federal level; policies implemented locally by governors and majors; moderate lockdown/local decisions; lack of funding; vaccines applied only after pressure over the President | Strongly decentralized and multi-stakeholder based; moderate to strong lockdown and social distancing policies; public funding to mitigate social effects; vaccines available and easy accessible | Herd immunity prominent throughout; three periods of lockdown with Scottish government more conservative than Westminster; public funds for furlough system; vaccines available | National emergency declared early with travel and social restrictions; decentralized policy implementation with high variety; vaccines now available and accessible but strong political controversy |
Sources: Authors' table, based on expert information and international public statistics:
• Population in millions, 2022 (40).
• Total GDP, 2021 or latest available data (41).
• Total health expenditure, 2022 or latest available data (42).
• UNDP Gender Inequality Index (43).
• Share of seats in parliament, %women, most recent year 2021 (44).
• MMR/100,000 live birth, latest available data 2017 (45).
• Global Gender Gap Index, measured by economic, political, education and health-based data; the higher the score, the better the gender equality conditions (46).
• COVID-19, daily new COVID-19 cases per million people (47).
• COVID-19, deaths confirmed per million people (48).
• COVID-19 vaccination, fully vaccinated/at least partly vaccinated, Brazil, Germany, UK, USA (49).
• COVID-19 vaccination, fully vaccinated/at least partly vaccinated, Australia (50).