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System of Health Accounts 2019

Health Expenditure in Ireland 2019

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Current Expenditure on Healthcare in Ireland was €23.8 billion in 2019

Ireland’s current expenditure on healthcare was €23.8bn in 2019, equivalent to 6.7% of GDP or 11.1% of GNI*. With an average increase of 5½ per cent per annum current expenditure has increased by 24% since 2015 (Table 2.1).

The System of Health Accounts measures the current expenditure on health care for residents of Ireland. A number of classifications are used in this publication which are explained in the Background Notes.

Table 2.1: Current Health Expenditure in Ireland, 2015 to 2019

Year	€ million	% of GDP	% of GNI*
2015	19,230	7.3	11.8
2016	20,107	7.4	11.5
2017	21,219	7.1	11.4
2018	22,432	6.9	11.3
2019	23,782	6.7	11.1

Open in Excel: System of Health Accounts 2019, Table 2.1 (XLS 9KB)

Health Expenditure over time

While the System of Health Accounts focusses on spending on healthcare for consumption purposes Figure 2.1 shows includes capital expenditure to illustrate the overall health spending in Ireland. (Note there is a break in the series in 2011, see Background Notes)

In 2019 for every €100 spent on healthcare €94 was current expenditure and €6 was capital expenditure. Between 2011 and 2019 current expenditure on healthcare increased by 25% while capital spending rose by 66%, (see Table 2.2).

Prior to the significant increase in GDP in 2015 current health expenditure in Ireland was higher than the OECD average of 8.7%. As a result of the level of GDP in recent years the ratio of health spending has been below the OECD average (6.7% of GDP compared with OECD average of 8.8% in 2019), (see Figure 2.2).

Thus, using GNI* (which excludes globalisation effects, which disproportionally impact the measurement of the size of the Irish economy), may be a more appropriate indicator for comparison purposes. By this metric current health expenditure in Ireland was 11.1% in 2019.

	Total Health Care Expenditure	Capital Expenditure	Current Expenditure
2000	6.92175232686613	0.521585032507154	6.40016729435898
2001	8.53180886877449	0.727265464877989	7.8045434038965
2002	9.8962979284674	0.821661173997352	9.07463675447005
2003	10.9502528018978	0.748789008511227	10.2014637933866
2004	12.1998044899761	0.918258199367311	11.2815462906088
2005	13.6808559891815	0.665283652984776	13.0155723361967
2006	14.4378262794809	0.538652991834767	13.8991732876462
2007	16.2632608595315	0.876599739853958	15.3866611196776
2008	17.8979569498856	0.807171633577503	17.0907853163081
2009	18.508938227549	0.670789731730698	17.8381484958183
2010	18.1989739479447	0.582628664268421	17.6163452836763
2011b	18.9967941537155	0.7154103892484	18.2813837644671
2012	19.211219369504	0.5098823121393	18.7013370573647
2013	19.4025106620809	0.8970053371051	18.5055053249758
2014	19.7279430595156	0.8777219360024	18.8502211235132
2015	20.2742040769639	1.0422538198817	19.2319502570822
2016	21.2989346343412	1.1557393214419	20.1431953128993
2017	22.3696038299446	1.1103415532391	21.2592622767055
2018	23.6646354402628	1.2129895339309	22.4516459063319
2019	25.3198201885834	1.5380375580226	23.7817826305608

^{Please note: There is a break in the series in 2011.}

	Current Expenditure % GDP, Ireland	Current Expenditure % GNI*, Ireland	Current Expenditure % GDP, OECD Average (adjusted)
2000	5.90639285193704	6.77854571623947	7.2498656357818
2001	6.40278227945534	7.502637279759	7.50368637450284
2002	6.67517746345612	7.98261501976606	7.74853027001789
2003	6.99784867155068	8.16352212908244	8.00322882478371
2004	7.22361072803041	8.41755677386794	8.03553801340461
2005	7.65720995434511	8.91099145307933	7.96486111111111
2006	7.51619500421591	8.66510391738746	7.90497222222222
2007	7.80834751879056	8.98622346017086	7.87927777777778
2008	9.11280122652353	10.4684462307412	8.16136111111111
2009	10.5282051181703	12.5245908343467	8.82905555555555
2010	10.6022287858329	12.4941277358215	8.68128947368421
2011b	10.6768969119778	14.4323758268544	8.6321052631579
2012	10.6526657023438	14.7483516688589	8.67131578947369
2013	10.296960171931	13.5092759823022	8.69639473684211
2014	9.53490123395062	12.4831838676562	8.67855003247239
2015	7.31604786363538	11.8227361358154	8.68808020693777
2016	7.42489737674491	11.5075313245893	8.75233940465118
2017	7.06397726409644	11.3948957729782	8.7129467701078
2018	6.86017207979816	11.2891970665465	8.73829400209995
2019	6.67931595016185	11.1281664820111	8.83263016081518

^{Please note: There is a break in the series in 2011.}

Table 2.2: Revised Health Care Expenditure in Ireland, 2011 to 2019
										€ million
		2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total Health Care Expenditure		18,972	19,164	19,393	19,486	20,274	21,266	22,362	23,669	25,320
Capital Expenditure¹		720	511	898	878	1,043	1,158	1,142	1,237	1,538
Current Expenditure		18,252	18,653	18,495	18,607	19,230	20,107	21,219	22,432	23,782
	Current Public Expenditure	13,122	13,383	13,056	13,212	13,848	14,622	15,486	16,628	17,736
	Current Private Expenditure	5,130	5,270	5,439	5,395	5,383	5,485	5,734	5,804	6,046

Current Expenditure:
	% GDP, Ireland	10.7	10.7	10.3	9.5	7.3	7.4	7.1	6.9	6.7
	% GNI*, Ireland	14.4	14.7	13.5	12.5	11.8	11.5	11.4	11.3	11.1
	% GDP, OECD Average (adjusted)²	8.6	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.8	8.7	8.7	8.8
¹ CSO, National Income & Expenditure 2019
² OECD average recalculated with revised Irish data and latest GDP estimates