North America - Current health expenditure (% of GDP)

Current health expenditure (% of GDP) in North America was 16.32 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 19 years was 16.41 in 2016, while its lowest value was 12.20 in 2000.

Definition: Level of current health expenditure expressed as a percentage of GDP. Estimates of current health expenditures include healthcare goods and services consumed during each year. This indicator does not include capital health expenditures such as buildings, machinery, IT and stocks of vaccines for emergency or outbreaks.

Source: World Health Organization Global Health Expenditure database (http://apps.who.int/nha/database).

See also:

Year Value
2000 12.20
2001 12.87
2002 13.65
2003 14.10
2004 14.17
2005 14.15
2006 14.25
2007 14.43
2008 14.73
2009 15.75
2010 15.72
2011 15.60
2012 15.60
2013 15.50
2014 15.69
2015 16.07
2016 16.41
2017 16.34
2018 16.23
2019 16.32

Development Relevance: Strengthening health financing is one objective of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG target 3.c). The levels and trends of health expenditure data identify key issues such as weaknesses and strengths and areas that need investment, for instance additional health facilities, better health information systems, or better trained human resources. Health financing is also critical for reaching universal health coverage (UHC) defined as all people obtaining the quality health services they need without suffering financial hardship (SDG 3.8). The data on out-of-pocket spending is a key indicator with regard to financial protection and hence of progress towards UHC.

Original Source Notes: The World Health Organization (WHO) has revised health expenditure data using the new international classification for health expenditures in the revised System of Health Accounts (SHA 2011). WHO’s Global Health Expenditure Database in this new version i

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The health expenditure estimates have been prepared by the World Health Organization under the framework of the System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA 2011). The Health SHA 2011 tracks all health spending in a given country over a defined period of time regardless of the entity or institution that financed and managed that spending. It generates consistent and comprehensive data on health spending in a country, which in turn can contribute to evidence-based policy-making.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Health systems