Buchet M
12 Feb 2024
Which countries in Europe are the world's top spenders on healthcare?
The OECD ranked the highest-earning countries by how much they spend on healthcare, but some health systems are still under financial pressure.
Annual healthcare spending per capita grew by an average of 2.6 per cent in OECD countries in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 2019 and 2022, average per capita spending growth accelerated to 3.3 per cent with a peak in 2021 before contracting in 2022.
The report revealed that many countries have not yet fully recovered from the pandemic with life expectancy falling by 0.7 years on average between 2019 and 2020 in OECD countries.
It remained below pre-pandemic levels in 28 countries, the OECD said, despite some data for 2022 pointing to a recovery.