Eighteen minutes to school. Thirty-four minutes to healthcare. That’s the global median revealed in new World Bank data analyzing household access to basic services.  

The data, covering countries from Australia to Vietnam, shows every nation except China prioritizes building schools closer to communities than hospitals and clinics.

Using data from the Human Capital Report, the graphics above show how long it takes households to reach their nearest school or health facility in various countries.

TL;DR

• The median travel time to school is about 18 minutes, and to the hospital, about 34 minutes.
• China stands out as the only country where health care (11 minutes) is closer than school (18 minutes) on average.

Travel Time to Schools

Travel times to Health Facilities

As you can see, the median travel time to school is about 18 minutes, while the median travel time to healthcare is roughly 34 minutes, which is almost twice as long. 

This pattern holds across middle-income countries like Peru and China, as well as lower-income countries such as Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

From a public health perspective, this looks backwards. 

In emergency cases or during illness, time to healthcare can be life-saving, but people generally travel very far for medical services than for education. 

The data show that while access to schools has improved geographically, access to basic healthcare still lags.

The Numbers Tell the Story

The gap becomes clearer when looking at country extremes.

School access is fastest in places like Australia (8 minutes), Ghana (10 minutes), and Japan (15 minutes). 

This means most children can get to school quickly. 

On the other hand, countries like Nepal (43 minutes), Mexico (32 minutes), and Tanzania (30 minutes) show longer travel times for education.

Healthcare access shows a similar pattern. China (11 minutes), Nigeria (19 minutes), and Kenya (22 minutes) report the shortest median travel times to medical facilities. 

However, Vietnam (60 minutes), Ethiopia (59 minutes), and Malawi (53 minutes) face the longest journeys. 

This shows how access to healthcare can require almost an hour of travel in some countries.

China’s Exception

China stands out as the only country in the dataset where healthcare (11 minutes) is closer than schools (18 minutes). 

This reverses the broader global pattern and suggests deliberate policy choices rather than coincidence.

Over the past two decades, China has invested heavily in primary healthcare infrastructure, expanding community health centers and rural village clinics to limit distance barriers. 

Government reforms strengthened the basic public health system, increased insurance coverage, and prioritized local access to essential services. 

Compared with other middle-income countries like Peru or Vietnam, where healthcare travel times are much longer. 

ELI5

People generally live closer to schools than to hospitals. 

Across the countries studied, it takes about 18 minutes to reach a school, but about 34 minutes to reach a healthcare facility, which is almost twice as long. 

This simply means medical care, which can be urgent or life-saving, is often farther away than education.

China, however, is the exception. It’s the only country in the dataset where healthcare (11 minutes) is actually closer than schools (18 minutes), indicating a stronger focus on placing medical services near communities.

Source: 

World Bank Report