AbstractThis thesis examines convergence and increased efficiency in European healthcare systems after 1950 and beyond. The countries that is included in the study are Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The purpose that has been answered is, from an economic-historical perspective, contribute to a higher knowledge to European health care systems historical growth, expansion, and structural reforms, and then to analyze in more depth the period 1950 and forward. The questions that have been answered are how European universal and conservative healthcare systems have developed and if it has been a convergence between different models in recent decades. Another question that has been answered if there are any differences in system efficiency measured as the ability of the different systems to affect healthcare-related mortality.At the beginning of the 20th century, the construction of the European countries healthcare systems began. However, it was not until after World War II that the expansion took place and a therefore even a strong increase of cost as a share of GDP.In Europe, two different healthcare models dominate the Nordic universal model and a social insurance system where Germany is the best example. In the Nordic countries, all citizens were included, and the financing was through the tax. In that model, the state was ultimately the guarantor of the individual’s welfare. In the conservative model, different groups could have different insurance solutions for their welfare.The thesis shows a strong convergence of these two models. The collective tax collective has an increasingly important role in both models. Nowadays, there are no major differences on that point. Today, public funding accounts for about 75–80 percent of the total health care costs in both tax- and insurance-financed systems. On the other hand, there are differences in the fact that the social insurance systems are operated by actors other than the region or state. Social insurance systems also tend to provide more equal care in terms of how care is consumed between different socioeconomic groups. In other respects, system efficiency is similar, even though Sweden probably has a lower system efficiency in terms of the resources used.Keywords: Keywords: Universalism, Social insurance systems, Health care, Health care expenditures and Economic history