The UK has the second lowest healthcare spending of the G7 nations and spent £2,989 per person in 2017.
Among comparable countries, the US had by far the biggest outgoing – spending £7,736 ($9,433) per person on average – but had a lower life expectancy.
Figures released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) ranked 36 countries by how much their healthcare costs each year.
The rankings put the UK just below mid-table in 18th, with Mexico at the bottom, spending the equivalent of £837 (Mex$20,577).
Despite its relatively low healthcare spend, the UK was notable for having among the least privately-funded medical care and no mandatory health insurance.
Figures showed the US spends by far the most money per person on healthcare, followed by Switzerland, while Mexico and Turkey spend the least among comparable countries. The UK ranked mid-table, placing 18th out of 36 nations in Europe and North America
G7 leaders and their guests met at the group of nations – the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – summit in Biarritz, France, last week
The ONS figures compared healthcare costs across 36 nation members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2017.
These countries, mostly European and among them the G7, are judged to be among the most advanced economies in the world and have comparable governments.
Healthcare spending in the UK – almost 80 per cent of which is government money given to the NHS – is £700 less per year than the biggest members of the EU.
And among the G7 nations – which include the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – it only spends more than Italy (£2,559/€2,816).
But lower healthcare spending does not necessarily mean people are doomed to sickness or early death.
A comparison of costs with life expectancy, for example, showed Spain has the third highest life expectancy (83.4 years) but only the 23rd highest spending (£2,444/€2,691).
The US, meanwhile, had a life expectancy of 78.6 – just four months longer than Estonia despite spending five times as much as the northern European nation’s £1,607 (€1,769) per person per year.
The life expectancy at birth in the UK is 81.3, according to the report.
Other countries making up the five biggest spenders were Switzerland (£5,417 per person per year), Norway (£4,596), Germany (£4,432) and Austria (£3,994).
In their report the statisticians wrote: ‘The United States spend per person is considerably more than any other OECD country and more than two and a half times what is spent per person in the UK.
‘While there are many reasons as to why countries spend different amounts on healthcare, the OECD report that countries spending the most tend to be high-income economies.
‘Research suggests that the high spending in the United States, compared with other countries, is partly attributable to higher prices and partly because of the consumption of a greater volume of goods and services.’
At the other end of the table, above Mexico, were Turkey (£899), Latvia (£1,250), Hungary (£1,513) and Poland (£1,553).
The UK ranked mid-table on its healthcare spending when compared to 35 other countries in Europe and North America. The United States spends significantly more per person than any other comparable nation
The average for the 15 countries which have been in the EU since 2004 was £3,663 – 22 per cent higher than the UK’s.
The UK was joined by only Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Latvia in the ranks of countries with no mandatory health insurance income.
Some 79 per cent of its spending was public health money – for the NHS – and the remaining 21 made up of optional insurance policies.
Norway got the biggest proportion of its funding from the government, at 85.5 per cent, and the remaining 14.5 per cent from private insurance.
France, Germany and Luxembourg, meanwhile, got almost 80 per cent of their money from mandatory insurance schemes, while optional private insurance was the biggest single contributor in Mexico, the US and Greece.
Country | Healthcare spend per person per year |
Country | Healthcare spend per person per year |
---|---|---|---|
United States | £7,736 | New Zealand | £2,836 |
Switzerland | £5,417 | Italy | £2,559 |
Norway | £4,596 | Spain | £2,444 |
Germany | £4,432 | South Korea | £2,175 |
Austria | £3,994 | Czech Republic | £2,160 |
Sweden | £3,990 | Slovenia | £2,123 |
Netherlands | £3,907 | Portugal | £2,091 |
Denmark | £3,808 | Israel | £2,021 |
France | £3,737 | Greece | £1,673 |
Luxembourg | £3,685 | Slovakia | £1,658 |
Belgium | £3,663 | Lithuania | £1,654 |
Canada | £3,647 | Estonia | £1,607 |
Australia | £3,631 | Chile | £1,588 |
Ireland | £3,510 | Poland | £1,553 |
Japan | £3,509 | Hungary | £1,513 |
Iceland | £3,148 | Latvia | £1,250 |
Finland | £3,129 | Turkey | £899 |
United Kingdom | £2,989 | Mexico | £837 |