Spain falls behind the european average in healthcare spending
The Healthcare crisis deriving from the Covid19 spread has brought to everyone’s attention the capacity of different countries to manage the healthcare emergency, with its successes and failures. It has also shown the strengths and weaknesses. But what remains clear is that not investing in healthcare and research is not an option.
According to most recent data made available by Eurostat, the European statistics office, related to the 27 countries of the European Union, Spain has directed 8.9% of its GDP to healthcare, comparable to the European average of 9.9%.
These data, that includes public and private expenses, shows the difference between various countries goes up until 6 percentage points. At the top of healthcare spending we find France and Germany, that redirects 11.3% of their GDP’s, followed by Sweden, with 11%. At the other extreme, we find Romania (5.2% of GDP) and Luxembourg (5.5%).
The data presented by Eurostat (2017) also analyzes the average spending in each country on a per capita base. According to this metric, Spain is also below the European average, spending €2,221 per person, compared to the European average of 2,887.
The country with the highest per capita spending is Sweden (€5,200), followed by Denmark and Luxembourg (€5,100 in both countries). On the other end of the spectrum, the countries that have directed the lowest amounts to healthcare per capita were Romania (€ 490) and Bulgaria (€ 590).
All of those resources, including the highest ones, are still far from the commitment made by various countries at the Abuya Summit that took place at year 2000, where 189 countries agreed to bring their expenditures in healthcare to 15% of their GDP’s.
Back to News