You are here: Home / Statistics / System of Health Accounts 2020 / Health Expenditure in Ireland 2020

System of Health Accounts 2020

Health Expenditure in Ireland 2020

Open in Excel:

Current Expenditure on Healthcare in Ireland was €26.5 billion in 2020

In 2020 Ireland spent €26.5bn on current healthcare costs, equivalent to 7.1% of GDP or 12.7% of GNI*. This was an 11.3% increase over the level of spending in 2019, which is explained by the additional costs due to COVID-19.

For comparison, the average increase in previous years was 5.8% per annum (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, 2016 to 2020

Year	€ million	% of GDP	% of GNI*
2016	20,107	7.4	11.5
2017	21,219	7.1	11.4
2018	22,432	6.9	11.3
2019	23,792	6.7	11.0
2020	26,479	7.1	12.7

Open in Excel: System of Health Accounts, 2020 Table 2.1 (XLS 9KB)

Health Expenditure over time

While the System of Health Accounts focuses on spending on healthcare for consumption purposes Figure 2.1 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 2020 for every €100 spent on healthcare €96 was current expenditure and €4 was capital expenditure. Between 2011 and 2020 current expenditure on healthcare increased by 46.1% while capital spending rose by 70.9%, (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 (7.1% of GDP compared with OECD average of 9.7% in 2020), (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 12.7% in 2020.

	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	0.582628921666076	17.6163452836763
2011b	18.9720769305663	0.7198976544723	18.252179276094
2012	19.1637549863813	0.5107266063183	18.653028380063
2013	19.3927626891811	0.8976783728511	18.49508431633
2014	19.4851140459067	0.8783463842477	18.606767661659
2015	20.2981367184179	1.0680727828019	19.230063935616
2016	21.3338145675256	1.2265957300386	20.107218837487
2017	22.4034177043844	1.1843673126214	21.219050391763
2018	23.8467085584763	1.4156546127393	22.431053945737
2019	24.8162589873448	1.0538758149006	23.7623831724442
2020	27.679134091373	1.2312649615349	26.5

^{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
2020	7.093107767	12.70451248	9.70145454545455

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

Table 2.2: Revised Health Care Expenditure in Ireland, 2011 to 2020
											€ million
		2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total Health Care Expenditure		18,972	19,164	19,393	19,486	20,298	21,334	22,403	23,848	24,846	27,710
Capital Expenditure¹		720	511	898	878	1,068	1,227	1,184	1,416	1,054	1,231
Current Expenditure		18,252	18,653	18,495	18,607	19,230	20,107	21,219	22,432	23,792	26,479
	Current Public Expenditure	13,122	13,383	13,056	13,212	13,848	14,622	15,486	16,628	17,756	20,872
	Current Private Expenditure	5,130	5,270	5,439	5,395	5,383	5,485	5,734	5,804	6,037	5,607

Current Expenditure:
	% GDP, Ireland	10.7	10.7	10.3	9.5	7.3	7.4	7.1	6.9	6.7	7.1
	% GNI*, Ireland	14.4	14.7	13.5	12.5	11.8	11.5	11.4	11.3	11.1	12.7
	% GDP, OECD Average (adjusted)²	8.6	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.8	8.7	8.7	8.8	9.7
¹ CSO, National Income & Expenditure 2020
² OECD average recalculated with revised Irish data and latest GDP estimates