Seven South Korean hospitals ranked among the world's top 100 in Newsweek's annual global hospital evaluation this year, including Samsung Medical Center.
According to the "World's Best Hospitals 2026" rankings released by Newsweek on February 25 (local time), Samsung Medical Center ranked 26th globally, claiming the top position among domestic hospitals.
Newsweek collaborates with Statista, a global marketing research firm, to select the world's best hospitals each February and publish the rankings on its website. This year's evaluation compiled recommendations from medical experts in 32 countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, and France, along with patient satisfaction scores, medical performance indicators, and implementation of patient self-assessment tools to select the top 250 from approximately 2,500 hospitals worldwide.
Samsung Medical Center climbed four spots from its 30th-place global ranking last year to secure 26th place, the highest among Korean hospitals. This marks the first change in domestic hospital rankings since Newsweek began its global hospital evaluation in 2019. Among Asian hospitals, it ranked third behind Singapore General Hospital (10th) and the University of Tokyo Hospital (13th).
The hospital attributed the achievement to its focus on severe, complex, and rare disease treatment and leading medical innovation since its founding in 1994. Notable milestones include establishing Korea's first Department of Critical Care Medicine in 2013, which transformed the paradigm of intensive care, and initiating the nation's first CAR-T cell therapy, a cutting-edge cancer treatment, in 2021. The Proton Therapy Center, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has shown remarkable growth in liver cancer treatment, surpassing 2,000 cases in 2024—a first in Korea. In November last year, the hospital successfully performed Korea's first Impella procedure to support ventricular function in a patient with cardiogenic shock accompanied by acute myocardial infarction. In recognition of these achievements, Samsung Medical Center has been ranked third globally and first among general hospitals in the cancer specialty category by Newsweek for two consecutive years. It has also maintained its position as Korea's top smart hospital for five consecutive years. "The results of our future medicine initiatives focused on severe diseases have been recognized by medical experts around the world," said Park Seung-woo, the hospital's president.
Asan Medical Center, which had held the top domestic position in global hospital evaluations for seven years, ceded its lead this year with a global ranking of 28th. Severance Hospital (39th) and Seoul National University Hospital (41st) secured positions within the top 50, while Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (54th), Gangnam Severance Hospital (77th), and Ajou University Hospital (94th) brought the total to seven Korean hospitals in the top 100. Expanding to the top 250, 16 Korean hospitals made the list, including Seoul St. Mary's Hospital (108th), Inha University Hospital (122nd), and Korea University Anam Hospital (155th).
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was named the world's best hospital this year. Toronto General Hospital in Canada, Cleveland Clinic in the United States, Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden, and Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States ranked second through fifth, respectively.