Global Health Expenditure Database

The Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED) provides comparable data on health expenditure for 194 countries and territories since 2000 with open access to the public.

Health spending indicators are key guides for monitoring the flow of resources, informing health policy development, and promoting the transparency and accountability of health systems. The database can help to answer questions, such as how much countries and territories spend on health, how much of the health spending comes from government, households, and donors, and how much of the spending is channelled through compulsory and voluntary health financing arrangements. The database also includes a detailed breakdown of spending for an increasing number of countries and territories on health care functions and primary health care, spending by diseases and conditions, spending for the under 5-year-old population, and spending by provider type. Information on health capital investments is also included.

WHO works collaboratively with Member States to update the database (Explore the Data) annually, using available information such as health accounts data, government expenditure records and official statistics. Where necessary, estimates are used to ensure the comprehensiveness and consistency of the data across countries/territories and years. In this year's GHED update, health spending in 2022 is made available. GHED is the source of the health expenditure data republished by the World Bank and the WHO Global Health Observatory.

Alongside the data, the updated visualizations of health spending are also online. In this section, you will be able to view individual country health expenditure profiles and PHC expenditure country profiles. In the documentation center, you will find the December 2024 country release note, as well as complementary technical notes, methodology guidelines, health accounts training materials, global, regional, and country reports on health expenditure, etc.

Together with the data publication, WHO also released the annual report "Global spending on health— Emerging from the Pandemic".

As in previous years, the report delves into the intricate landscape of global economies and health systems. This year, it focuses on health spending in 2022, the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows how countries around the world responded to the health and economic shocks of the pandemic from a financial perspective. It also considers what the future may hold as countries emerge from the pandemic. Although it is still too early to gauge whether the COVID-19 pandemic has altered long-term trends in health spending, spending appears to have peaked and is now at or below its long-term rising trend in most country income groups. Additionally, to mark the 25th anniversary of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Expenditure Tracking Program, the report reviews the program’s achievements and envisions a path forward. As the program’s lead technical agency, WHO is committed to working closely with partners to support countries in tracking health spending and sustaining the Global Health Expenditure Database and the Global Health Expenditure Report as global public goods.

For any queries, please contact: nha@who.int