Measuring Ireland's Progress 2021

Ireland: Current public expenditure on health care

• Current public expenditure on health care in Ireland was €20.9bn in 2020, up €3.1bn on 2019 (see Table 5.1).
• As a percentage of Gross National Income (GNI), public health spending decreased from 9.5% in 2010 to 6.4% in 2019. In 2020 it increased to 7.4%.
• As a proportion of Modified GNI (GNI*), public expenditure on health care was 10.4% in 2020, up from 8.4% in 2019.
• Between 2010 and 2020, public health spending per capita at constant 2020 prices increased from €3,387 to €4,193, an increase of 23.8% over the time period. For the time period 2010 to 2019 (i.e. prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) it increased by 7.9%, and between 2019 and 2020 it increased by 14.7%.

By country: Current expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP

• In 2020, current health care spending (public and private) in Ireland as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 7.1%. This was the fourth lowest in the EU27 for health spending and below the EU27 average of 10.9% (see Table 5.2).
• As a percentage of Modified Gross National Income (GNI*), current expenditure on health care in Ireland was 13.2% in 2020.
• Germany had the highest proportion of GDP allocated towards health care in the EU27 in 2020 at 12.8%, while Luxembourg had the lowest at 5.8%.
• Germany had the highest spending per capita on health care in the EU27 in 2020 at €4,830.6 per person in purchasing power standards. Ireland's spending per capita was the ninth highest at €3,740.3 (see Figure 5.2).

Ireland: Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 by sex

• Life expectancy at birth for males in 2016 was 79.6 years in Ireland, an increase of 22.2 years since 1926 (see Table 5.3).
• For females, life expectancy at birth in 2016 was 83.4 years, a rise of 25.5 years since 1926.
• In 1926, life expectancy for females was higher than for males by 0.5 years. This gender gap widened to 5.7 years in 1986, but narrowed to 3.8 years by 2016.
• A 65 year old man in 2016 could expect to live for another 18.3 years compared to 21.0 years for a 65 year old woman, resulting in a gender differential of 2.7 years. The gender differential at age 65 peaked at 3.7 years in 1991.

By country: Life expectancy at birth by sex

• In 2020, male life expectancy at birth in Ireland was 80.8 years, the highest in the EU27, followed by Sweden at 80.6 years and Cyprus at 80.4 years.
• Male life expectancy at birth in Ireland was 3.3 years higher than the EU27 average of 77.5 years in 2020. Bulgaria had the lowest male life expectancy at 70.0 years.
• In the same year, female life expectancy at birth in Ireland was 84.4 years, which was 1.2 years higher than the EU27 average of 83.2 years.
• France had the highest female life expectancy at birth in 2020 at 85.3 years, while Bulgaria had the lowest at 77.5 years.
• Women had a higher life expectancy at birth than men in all EU27 countries. The lowest gender differential (female life expectancy less that of males) was the Netherlands (3.4 years) and the highest was Lithuania (10.0 years). In Ireland the gender differential was 3.6 years.

By country: Healthy life years at birth by sex

• Healthy life expectancy is the number of years a person can expect to live in a healthy state. It is calculated using mortality data and self-perceived health-related limitations to activity (see Background Notes).
• In 2020, females in Ireland had a healthy life expectancy at birth of 67.1 years. This was 2.6 years higher than the EU27 average of 64.5 years and the fifth highest in the EU27 (see Table 5.5).
• Males in Ireland had a healthy life expectancy of 65.3 years in 2020. This was the fifth highest in the EU27 and 1.8 years above the EU27 average of 63.5 years.
• In 2020, females had a higher healthy life expectancy than males in 20 countries of the EU27, including Ireland. Six countries reported a higher healthy life expectancy for males than females, namely the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg, Denmark and Sweden, while Spain had a healthy life expectancy of 66.3 years for both males and females.
• The Netherlands had the highest number of healthy life years for males relative to females, with a differential of 2.8 years. Conversely, Bulgaria had the highest gender differential for females relative to males at 4.2 years.

By country: Proportion of life expectancy in poor health for males

• Males in Ireland in 2020 could expect to live 65.3 healthy life years, and 15.5 years in poor health, out of a total life expectancy of 80.8 years. This is equivalent to a proportion of life expectancy in poor health of 19.2% (see Table 5.6).
• Ireland had the fourteenth lowest proportion of life expectancy in poor health for males in the EU27. The countries with the lowest proportion of life expectancy in poor health were Bulgaria (9.1%), Sweden (9.7%) and Malta (12.6%).
• The EU27 average for male healthy life years in 2020 was 63.5 years, while the average expected number of years in poor health was 14.0 years. The average proportion of male life expectancy in poor health was 18.1%.
• Finland and Denmark had the highest proportion of male life expectancy in poor health in the EU27 in 2020, at 27.1% each.

By country: Proportion of life expectancy in poor health for females

• In 2020, females in Ireland could expect to experience 67.1 healthy life years and 17.3 years in poor health, out of a total life expectancy of 84.4 years (see Table 5.7).
• In the EU27, Ireland had the joint ninth (with Slovenia) lowest proportion of life expectancy in poor health for females in 2020 at 20.5%. Bulgaria had the lowest proportion of life expectancy in poor health (12.5%), followed by Sweden (13.7%) and Malta (16.3%).
• The EU27 average for female healthy life expectancy in 2020 was 64.5 years, while the number of years in poor health was 18.7 years. The average proportion of female life expectancy in poor health was 22.5%.
• Finland had the highest proportion of female life expectancy in poor health at 34.1%, followed by Latvia at 32.1% and Denmark at 31.0%.