New Perspectives on Global Health Spending for Universal Health Coverage

Overview

This WHO global report summarizes the latest internationally comparable data on health spending in all WHO Member States between 2000 and 2015. But it does more than publish the most recent data. For the first time the report also uses the new international classification for health expenditures in the revised System of Health Accounts. This enables presenting detailed information on the role of governments, households and donors in funding health services—and the financing arrangements through which these funds are channelled and spent.

The aim of this report is to summarize key global health expenditure patterns and trends, to illustrate the potential of the new database to inform thinking about financing reforms to progress towards UHC, and to raise issues for further research. It includes the following areas:

• How much the world spends on health
• Public spending on health
• The role of Official Development Assistance
• Global spending on health through out-of-pocket payment
• Revealing the sources of social health insurance spending

As annex to this global report, regional health expenditure dashboards have been prepared to present the main findings in each region around the world.