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Health systems in transition
Portugal
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3.1 Health expenditure
Total health expenditure in Portugal has risen steadily from 7.5% of GDP in
1995 to 10.4% of GDP in 2010, above the EU average of 9.8% in 2010 (Table 3.1).
The economic recession (see section 1.2) and the austerity measures required by
the Economic and Financial Adjustment Programme in 2011 reversed this trend,
with total health expenditure decreasing to 9.5% of GDP in 2014 (Table 3.1).
Table 3.1
Trends in health expenditure in Portugal, 1995–2014 (selected years)
Expenditure
1995
2000
2005
2010
2014
Total health expenditure per capita in Int US$
(Purchasing Power Parity)
1 015.4
1 652.4
2 224.1
2 810.1
2 689.9
Total health expenditure as % of GDP
7.5
9.3
10.4
10.4
9.5
General government health expenditure as
% of total health expenditure
62.6
66.6
68.0
68.7
64.8
General government health expenditure per
capita in Int US$ (Purchasing Power Parity)
635.8
1 100.1
1 511.5
1 930.9
1 743.5
Private health expenditure as % of total
health expenditure
37.4
33.4
32.0
31.3
35.2
General government health expenditure as
% of general government expenditure
11.2
14.9
15.1
13.8
11.9
Government health spending as % of GDP
4.7
6.2
7.0
7.2
6.2
OOP payments as % of total health
expenditure
23.9
24.3
23.9
23.3
26.8
OOP payments as % of private health
expenditure
64.0
72.8
74.5
74.5
76.3
Private insurance as % of private health
expenditure
3.5
10.1
14.2
14.2
n/a
Source
: WHO, 2016a.
Notes
: n/a: not available; OOP: out-of-pocket.
The economic crisis in Portugal led to changes in total health expenditure.
The reduction of the GDP by 5.4% between 2010 and 2013 was accompanied by
a 12.4% decrease of the total health expenditure in the same period (INE, 2016a).
Thus, analysing total health expenditure as a share of the GDP, Portugal
was above the EU average in 2010, but in line with the EU average in 2014
(Fig. 3.1).