1. From:
Health at a Glance 2011
OECD Indicators
Access the complete publication at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health_glance-2011-en
Health expenditure per capita
Please cite this chapter as:
OECD (2011), “Health expenditure per capita”, in Health at a Glance
2011: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health_glance-2011-60-en

2. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or
sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to
the name of any territory, city or area.

3. 7. HEALTH EXPENDITURE AND FINANCING
7.1. Health expenditure per capita
OECD countries vary enormously in how much they spend In countries such as Italy, Switzerland and Germany, health
on health and the rate at which health spending grows. spending per capita has increased at a much slower rate
This reflects a wide array of market and social factors, as over the period – at an annual average of 2% or less. This
well as countries’ diverse financing and organisational reflects, in part, a period of relatively low economic growth
structures of their health systems. over the period as a whole and the effect of deliberate cost-
The United States continues to outspend all other OECD containment policies.
countries by a wide margin. In 2009, spending on health Figure 7.1.3 shows the familiar association between GDP
goods and services per person in the United States rose to per capita and health expenditure per capita across OECD
USD 7 960 (Figure 7.1.1) – two and a half times the average countries. While there is an overall tendency for countries
of all OECD countries. The next highest spending countries, with higher GDP to spend a greater amount on health,
Norway and Switzerland, spend only around two-thirds of there is wide variation since GDP is not the sole factor
the per capita level of the United States, but are still more influencing health expenditure levels. The association is
than 50% above the OECD average. Most of the northern stronger among countries with low GDP per capita than
and western European countries, together with Canada among OECD countries with a higher GDP per capita. Even
and Australia, spend between USD PPP 3 200 and 4 400, for countries with similar levels of GDP per capita there are
between 100% and 130% of the OECD average. Those substantial differences in health expenditure at a given
countries spending below the OECD average include level of GDP. For example, despite Germany and Finland
Mexico and Turkey, but also the southern and eastern having similar GDP per capita, their health spending per
European members of the OECD together with Korea. Japan capita differs considerably with Germany spending around
also spends less on health than the average in OECD 25% more than Finland. The United States spends much
countries, despite its above-average per capita income. By more on health than what might be expected based only on
comparison the fast growing economies, China and India, its GDP level.
spend less than 10% and 5% of the OECD average on health.
Figure 7.1.1 also shows the breakdown of per capita spend-
ing on health into public and private components (see also
Indicator 7.5 “Financing of health care”). In general, the
ranking according to per capita public expenditure remains
comparable to that of total spending. Even if the private Definition and comparability
sector in the United States continues to play the dominant
Total expenditure on health measures the final
role in financing, public spending on health per capita is still
consumption of health goods and services (i.e. current
greater than that in most other OECD countries (with the
health expenditure) plus capital investment in health
exception of Norway, Luxembourg and the Netherlands),
care infrastructure. This includes spending by both
because overall spending on health is much higher than in
public and private sources on medical services and
other countries. In Switzerland also, a large proportion of
goods, public health and prevention programmes and
health care financing comes from private sources, and its
administration.
public spending on health is lower than in certain other
countries, although overall spending is higher. The opposite Differing estimation methodologies for long-term care
is true in Denmark where most health care is mostly spending, in particular the allocation of spending
financed through public sources. between health and social care, continue to limit the
overall comparability of total health spending. See
Per capita health spending over 2000-09 is estimated to
Indicators 7.3 “Health expenditure by function” and 8.8
have grown, in real terms, by 4% annually on average across
“Long-term care expenditure” for further details.
the OECD (Figure 7.1.2 and Table A.6). In many countries,
the growth rate reached a peak prior to 2004 and slowed in Countries’ health expenditures are converted to a
more recent years. common currency (US dollar) and adjusted to take
account of the different purchasing power of the
In general, the countries that have experienced the highest
national currencies, in order to compare spending
growth in health expenditures per capita over this period
levels. Economy-wide (GDP) PPPs are used as the most
are those that had relatively low levels at the beginning of
available and reliable conversion rates.
the period. Health expenditure growth in the Slovak
Republic and Korea, for example, has been more than twice Information on data for Israel: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/
the OECD average since 2000, resulting in a degree of 888932315602.
convergence between OECD countries over time.
148 HEALTH AT A GLANCE 2011: OECD INDICATORS © OECD 2011

4. 7. HEALTH EXPENDITURE AND FINANCING
7.1. Health expenditure per capita
7.1.1 Total health expenditure per capita, public and private, 2009 (or nearest year)
Public expenditure on health Private expenditure on health
USD PPP
8 000
7 960
5 352
6 000
5 144
4 914
4 808
4 363
4 348
42 89
4 218
3 978
3 946
3 781
3 722
3 538
3 487
3 445
3 226
4 000
3 233
3 137
3 067
2 983
2 878
2 724
2 579
2 508
2 165
2 108
2 084
1 879
1 511
1 394
1 393
2 000
1 186
1 036
943
902
918
862
308
132
99
0
m ds 1
Ca rg 2
Ir e m 3
h ey
a
ec I gal
Po r y
d e il e
do i a
a
Lu er l nd
OE a
Sl e c e
a k pu l
pu c
M z il
So Tu co
Ch a
Ko i c
Hu r e a
E s nd
a
Br n
No tes
Ne e y
nm a
Au r k
rm a
Fr ny
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S w and
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Au dom
Fi CD
d
Ne S ly
Z e in
Ja d
Gr n
r tu a
ov e e
in
Re bli
si
it z wa
De d
Ge s tr i
li
Po eni
ni
Be c
ric
tio
Ki n
an
an
pa
In In d
Sl h R sr a
bl
It a
w pa
a
a
a
ut rk
an
F e Ch
ra
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i
na
a
la
th r l a
d ela
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u
to
a
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ng
e
l
nl
al
Af
ra
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i te
Un
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ia
Cz
Un
ss
Ru
1. In the Netherlands, it is not possible to clearly distinguish the public and private share related to investments.
2. Health expenditure is for the insured population rather than the resident population.
3. Total expenditure excluding investments.
Source: OECD Health Data 2011; WHO Global Health Expenditure Database.
1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932526046
7.1.2 Annual average growth rate in health expenditure 7.1.3 Total health expenditure per capita
per capita in real terms, 2000-09 (or nearest year) and GDP per capita, 2009 (or nearest year)
Luxembourg 0.7 Health spending per capita (USD PPP)
Portugal 1.5 8 000 USA
Israel 1.5
Italy 1.6
Iceland 1.6
Switzerland 2.0
7 000
Germany 2.0
France 2.2
Austria 2.2
Norway 2.4
Japan 2.4 6 000
Hungary 2.8
Australia 2.8 NOR
Mexico 3.1 CHE
LUX
United States 3.3 5 000 NLD
Denmark 3.3
Sweden 3.4 DNK CAN
DEU AUT
Canada 3.7
Slovenia 3.9 FRA BEL
OECD 4.0 4 000 SWE IRL
ISL
Spain 4.0 GBR AUS
ITA FIN
Finland 4.0 ESP
Belgium 4.0 NZL
JPN
Netherlands 4.4 3 000 GRC
United Kingdom 4.8 PRT SVN
New Zealand 4.8 CZE
ISR
Chile 5.2 SVK
KOR
Czech Republic 5.7
2 000
Ireland 6.1 HUN
POL EST
Turkey 6.3
CHL
Greece 6.9
BRA RUS
Poland 7.3 TUR
ZAF MEX
Estonia 7.5 1 000
Korea 8.6 IND CHN
Slovak Republic 10.9 IDN
0
0 4 8 12 0 15 000 30 000 45 000 60 000 75 000 90 000
Annual average growth rate (%) GDP per capita (USD PPP)
Source: OECD Health Data 2011. Source: OECD Health Data 2011; WHO Global Health Expenditure Database.
1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932526065 1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932526084
HEALTH AT A GLANCE 2011: OECD INDICATORS © OECD 2011 149