Latest health spending trends and outlook: Balancing resilience and sustainability in challenging times

Over the last five years, a succession of crises has strongly impacted the financial resources that countries were able and willing to allocate to health, and significant uncertainties continue to weigh on the global economy. As a result, restoring public finances has become a priority in many countries, with implications for health spending patterns. Health policy priorities are shifting towards identifying efficiency gains within health systems as a means of strengthening their resilience. This Health Working Paper summarises the latest health spending trends in OECD countries, highlighting that health spending growth in 2024 is still expected to have remained slightly above pre-pandemic growth reflecting the volatile economic growth patterns across countries in recent years. It also compares the latest trajectory of health spending with government expenditure in other areas, such as education, social protection or defense. Finally, drawing on budget information sourced for a limited number of countries, the paper discusses the likely short-term developments in health spending and provides examples of measures that countries have implemented to make their health spending more financially sustainable.