Events

Health Financing and Economics
We aim to empower actors and increase accountability, transparency and responsiveness in health systems in support of progress towards financial protection as part of universal health coverage (UHC).

Data and Analytics

Overview

The Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED) is an open-access data portal. The WHO Health Accounts team supports the goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by monitoring the availability of resources for health and the extent to which they are used efficiently and equitably. At the same time, this effort helps advocate for affordable and equitable health services to all.

The Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED) provides comparable data on health expenditure for more than 190 WHO Member States since 2000 with open access to the public.  

 

Health spending indicators are key guides for monitoring the flow of resources, informing health policy development, and promoting the transparency and accountability of health systems. The database can help to answer questions, such as how much countries spend on health, how much of the health spending comes from government, households, and donors, and how much of the spending is channelled through compulsory and voluntary health financing arrangements. The database also includes, for an increasing number of countries, a detailed breakdown of spending on health care functions and primary health care, spending by diseases and conditions, spending for the under 5-year-old population, and spending by provider type.

Together with the data publication, we also released the annual report for 2023 "Global spending on health: Coping with the pandemic". As in previous years, the report delves into the intricate landscape of global economies and health systems. This year, it focuses on health spending in 2021, providing new insights into the dynamics of increased global spending on health through the pandemic. Leveraging available detailed expenditure data from a set of countries, the report also provides insights into the strategies employed by healthcare providers to respond to new and evolving demands during the pandemic, and sheds light on how countries coped with the challenges posed by competing priorities between COVID-19 and other diseases.  Additionally, the report explores health capital investments, which shape current operational capacity and are essential for forging a path toward effective and resilient health systems. Join us in gaining a deeper understanding of the complexities of global health spending through this challenging period and what it means for the future.

 

Alongside this new report and data, we are also pleased to announce the update of interactive visualizations of health spending for each country. In this section, you will be able to view, individual country profiles  and PHC country profiles.

 

25th anniversary of

Health Expenditure

Tracking programme on monitoring global health spending.

Average

per capita domestic

public spending on health remained well above the prepandemic level.

Out of pocket

spending

is the main way of financing health in 30 low and low-middle income countries.

In low income

countries

health spending is funded more by external aid (31%) than domestic public resources (22%).

Most countries

have voluntary

health insurance (VHI) accounting for less than 5% of average total health spending in 2022.

The number of

countries with

social health insurance systems has increased, along with the SHI share in total health spending.

Government schemes

were more flexible

than social health insurance in scaling up financing and adapting to the higher demand of pandemic.

Publications

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Global spending on health: Emerging from the pandemic

The Global Health Expenditure Report delves into the intricate landscape of global economies and health systems. This year, it focuses on health spending...

Global spending on health: Coping with the pandemic

The report shows that global spending on health continued to increase in 2021, the second year of the pandemic, to US$ 9.8 trillion (10.3% of global GDP)....

Global spending on health: rising to the pandemic’s challenges

The results of the report clearly show that in 2020, a year dominated by the emergence of COVID-19 and its associated health and economic crises, governments...

Global expenditure on health: Public spending on the rise?

The 2021 Report examines country health spending patterns and trends over the past 20 years, before the COVID-19 pandemic, with greater focus on public...

Global spending on health: Weathering the storm

The 2020 Report analyses global health spending for 190 countries from 2000 to 2018 and provides insights as to the health spending trajectory from the...

Global Spending on Health: A World in Transition

This 2019 report Global health spending: A world in transition examines how countries progress towards financing UHC in a world in transition.The report’s...

Public Spending on Health: A Closer Look at Global Trends

The 2018 global health financing report presents health spending data for all WHO Member States between 2000 and 2016 based on the SHA 2011 methodology....

New Perspectives on Global Health Spending for Universal Health Coverage

This WHO global report summarizes the latest internationally comparable data on health spending in all WHO Member States between 2000 and 2015. But it...

Multimedia

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Other Materials