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NOK 57 000 spent on health care per capita
statistikk
2014-03-13T10:00:00.000Z
National accounts and business cycles;Health
en
helsesat, Health accounts, health care expenditures, health services (for example medical services, rehabilitation, nursing home services), financing sources (for example establishments, national insurance, own risk), satellite accounts, hospital services, own riskHealth services , National accounts , National accounts and business cycles, Health
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The Health accounts show total health spending in Norway. Total health expenditure is estimated at NOK 288 billion in 2013.

Health accounts, 2013

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NOK 57 000 spent on health care per capita

Total health expenditure is estimated at NOK 288 billion in 2013. This represents 9.6 per cent of GDP. Measured in volume, health spending has increased by approximately 20 per cent over the last decade.

Health expenditure. Key figures1Published 13 March 2014
20092010201120122013
1Estimates for 2012 and 2013 are preliminary
Total health expenditure. NOK million230 473239 730255 366270 052288 283
Volume growth from previous year1.41.10.32.22.4
Capital formation in health care institutions. NOK million10 1058 9459 54211 38515 371
Current expenditure on health. NOK million220 368230 785245 824258 667272 911
Total health expenditure. Per cent of GDP9.79.49.39.39.6
Total health expenditure. Per cent of GDP Mainland Norway12.312.112.312.312.4
Total health expenditure per inhabitant. NOK47 73049 03251 55753 81156 747

Source: Statistics Norway

Preliminary figures from the Health accounts show that total health expenditures amounted to NOK 288 billion in 2013. This corresponds to approximately NOK 56 700 per capita. Measured at constant 2005 prices, the figures show an increase of about 2.4 per cent from 2012, and over 20 per cent from 2003.

Health spending has increased, but so has the population. The growth in health spending per capita has therefore been somewhat more moderate than the growth in total health expenditure. Health expenditure per capita has increased from about NOK 36 900 in 2003 to NOK 39 800 million in 2013, measured at constant 2005 prices. This corresponds to an average annual increase of 0.8 per cent.

The number of man-years worked and employment associated with the production of health care have increased in recent years. This is unsurprising since labour costs constitute a large share of the costs associated with the production of health services. The number of man-years worked and total health expenditure will therefore correlate to a large extent. Total man-years worked were approximately 283 000 in 2011. This is approximately 32 000 man-years more than in 2006 and 59 000 more than 10 years earlier.

Norway's health spending at the same level as the rest of the OECD countries

Health expenditure as a share of GDP is often used in international comparisons of health spending. In 2013, health spending accounted for 9.6 per cent of GDP. This is a slight increase from 2011 and 2012, when the share was 9.3 per cent. By comparison, the average health spending for OECD countries was 9.3 per cent in 2011, which are the latest figures available from OECD. Thus, the Norwegian health expenditure as a share of GDP was on a par with the OECD average in 2011.

High share of public financing in Norway

The share of public financing differs widely among OECD countries, and Norway is one of the countries with the highest share. Only the Netherlands has a higher proportion of public financing than Norway. In Norway, the share of public financing has increased from 81.3 per cent in 1997 to 85.5 per cent in 2013.

Compositional changes in expenditure by function

Of the total health expenditure of NOK 288 billion, current health spending constituted NOK 273 billion. The remaining NOK 15 billion was investments. The investments have increased every year since 2010, partly due to the construction of new hospitals, and investments related to the coordination reform introduced in January 2012.

The allocation of health spending by function has remained relatively stable over the last decade. From 2003 to 2013, the share of spending on long-term nursing care increased by about 4 percentage points, while the proportion of medical goods dispensed to out-patients has been reduced accordingly.

Services of curative and rehabilitative care account for the largest share of the total health expenditure. These services accounted for about 48 per cent of the total health spending in 2013. Services of long-term nursing care make up the next largest share. In 2013, these services accounted for 27.5 per cent of total health spending.

What total expenditure on health includesOpen and readClose

Total expenditure on health measures the final consumption of health care goods and services (i.e. current health expenditures) in addition to capital investment in health care infrastructure. This includes spending by public and private sources (including households) on medical goods and services, public health, preventive health care programmes and administration. Health expenditure also includes expenditure on health care and social services. According to international guidelines, only expenditure for health care and social services that are health related should be included in the health accounts.

Volume growth in national figures differs from OECD estimateOpen and readClose

The volume growth in our national figures may differ from the growth estimated by the OECD in the publication “Health at a Glance”. This is because the OECD uses a method where the total health spending figures are deflated using an economy-wide GDP deflator. In the Norwegian figures, the volume growth is calculated according to the national accounts method, meaning that many different but relevant price indices are used or that the volume changes are observed directly. An example of the latter is the hospitals’ DRG system, which can have information on the volume of hospital services.