Health care costs

The costs of health care in a particular country are defined as public and private spending on goods and services provided by the health care sector, including health insurances and administrative costs. It concerns costs to preserve, restore or improve a person’s health. Goods and services are provided by hospitals, nursing homes, GPs, pharmacies and municipal health care services. The costs of domiciliary care, homes for the elderly and care for disabled are not included.

Health care costs are related to a country’s GDP and its population. The costs of health care per capita are adjusted for differences in purchasing power between the various EU member states. An extra correction is made for Luxembourg, because Eurostat data refer to the insured population (including persons working in Luxembourg, but living elsewhere).