Expenditure

Total spending on health

In 2022–23, $52.463 billion was spent on health in Queensland.¹ This was one-fifth (20.8%) of national spending ($252.515 billion), consistent with Queensland’s population share (20.5%).¹

Based on constant 2022–23 prices, total spending on health in Queensland increased by 3.3% per year from 2012–13 to 2022–23. Over this period, the average annual growth in:

• recurrent spending in Queensland (3.3%) was similar to national spending (3.3%)
• capital spending, spending on assets expected to last more than a year such as new buildings or medical equipment, was 2.6% per year in Queensland.¹

Nationally, health spending accounted for 9.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022–23, having decreased from 10.4% in 2021–22. Over the decade to 2022–23, health spending increased from 9.5% a decade earlier. The national annual increase in health spending was 3.3% per year since 2012–13, outstripping the 2.4% growth in GDP. Average annual growth rates based on constant prices from 2012–13 to 2022–23 by source of funds include:

• 2.8% per year increases by the Australian Government
• 4.5% per year increases by state and territory governments
• 2.7% per year increases by non-government sources.¹

Queensland government

In the 2024–25 state budget, health was the largest component of Queensland Government budgeted expenditure ($26.739 billion; 29.5%) followed by education ($21.275 billion; 23.4%).² This is similar to the 2023–24 state budget (28.8% and 23.5% for health and education, respectively).³ About one-third of tax revenue in Queensland was spent on health (35.2%) in 2022–23.¹

Funding source

Governments funded 72.7% ($38.159 billion) of total health expenditure in Queensland in 2022–23 with non-government sources funding the remainder. In 2022–23, the percentage of total health expenditure by funding sources was:

• Australian Government: 41.7% ($21.890 billion)
• Queensland state and local government: 31.0% ($16.269 billion)
• individuals: 13.4% ($7.030 billion)
• health insurers: 7.5% ($3.928 billion)
• other non-government: 6.4% ($3.346 billion) (Figure 1).¹

Figure 1: Total Queensland health expenditure ($ billion) by source in current prices

Health spending per person

Health spending per person in Queensland was slightly higher than national spending in 2022–23, at $9,739 compared with $9,597 per person nationally. Over the past decade, per person spending in Queensland increased by 1.7% per year.¹

On average, Australians spent 2.0% of their income on health in 2022–23, estimated to be 0.3% of their net worth. Individuals’ health spending increased by 2.7% annually over the past decade while their annual wage growth was 2.4% and their annual net worth grew by 6.6%.¹

Spending by area

The majority of total health expenditure in 2022–23 in Queensland was recurrent spending (93.8%) and the remaining 6.2% was capital, similar to the national spending (94.1% and 5.9% for recurrent and capital, respectively).¹

The greatest proportion of health spending (40.9%) in Queensland was for public and private hospitals ($21.435 billion), followed by primary health care (33.4%, $17.500 billion) which includes GP/dental/other health practitioners, community health, public health and benefit-paid pharmaceuticals and other medications (Figure 2). Other areas of spending included referred medical services (8.6%; $4.508 billion), research (2.6%; $1.359 billion) and other services (8.4%; $4.398 billion) including patient transport, medical aids and administration.¹

Figure 2: Area and funding source of Queensland’s health expenditure in current prices, 2022–23

Spending on public health

In 2022–23, public health spending in Queensland was 2.1% of total expenditure ($1.115 billion), and this included communicable disease control, organised immunisation, food standards and hygiene, cancer screening, prevention of hazardous and harmful drug use and preventive health.¹ The allocation of the funds to each activity, however, are not clear.⁴ Public health spending saw a large increase in recent years during the COVID-19 pandemic period, but a reduction in the most recent year reported (Figure 3).

Based on constant prices, the proportion of health expenditure allocated to public health has increased from a decade ago (1.1% in 2012–13), however, this is a decrease from the pandemic high of 3.9% in 2021–22.¹ Nationally and in all the states and territories including Queensland, public health spending remains below the 5% recommended by professional health organisations⁵ and national strategies.⁶

Figure 3: Trend of expenditure on public health

Additional information

Data and statistics

Additional expenditure information is available from:

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Health expenditure
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Health system spending on the response to COVID-19 in Australia 2019-20 to 2021-22