At a glance

  • $241.316 billion was spent on health in Australia in 2021–22, with one-fifth spent in Queensland.
  • Over the past decade, growth in health spending exceeded GDP growth.
  • Government (federal and state) is the largest contributor to health spending.
  • Spending on hospitals was the largest component of health expenditure and is increasing.
  • The largest component of health spending for individuals was non-benefit medications.
  • Australia ranked favourably among OECD countries for health spending relative to GDP and per capita spending on health and was consistently better than the OECD average.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic increased health expenditure—often related to the cost and complexity of service delivery as well as other ways that are difficult to quantify. Direct support through Australian Government programs was estimated to be $45.0 billion over the period 2019–20 to 2021–22.

Total spending on health

In 2021–22, $49.067 billion was spent on health in Queensland.1 This was one-fifth (20.3%) of national spending ($241.316 billion), consistent with Queensland’s population share (20.4%).1 This is the most recent year that includes detailed information about health expenditure.

Total spending on health in Queensland increased in real terms by 3.1% per year from 2011–12 to 2021–22. The growth in recurrent spending in Queensland was similar to national spending (3.5% per year compared with 3.5%). On average over this period there was a decline of 2.7% per year in Queensland’s capital spending compared to a 1.0% increase nationally.1

Nationally, health spending accounted for 10.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021–22, having increased from 9.4% a decade earlier. Over this period, the national annual increase in health spending was 3.4% per year since 2011–12, outstripping the 2.3% growth in GDP.1 This increase in total health expenditure was comprised of:

  • 3.5% per year increase by the Australian Government
  • 4.0% by state and territory governments
  • 2.6% by non-government sources.1

Queensland government

In the 2023–24 state budget health was the largest component of Queensland Government budgeted expenditure (28.8%) followed by education (23.5%).2 This is similar to the 2020–21 state budget (31.1% and 24.0% for health and educations, respectively).3 About one-third of tax revenue in Queensland was spent on health (33.4%) in 2021–22.1

Funding source

Governments funded 72.9% of total health expenditure in 2021–22 with non-government sources funding the remainder. In 2021–22, the percentage of total health expenditure by funding sources was (Figure 1):

  • Australian Government: 43.9%
  • state and territory governments: 29.1%
  • individuals: 13.9%
  • health insurers: 7.3%
  • other non-government: 5.9% .1

Figure 1: Total Australian health expenditure ($ billion) by source, current prices

Health spending per person

Health spending per person in Queensland was slightly lower than national spending in 2021–22, $9,325 compared with $9,365 per person nationally. Over the past decade, per person spending in Queensland increased by 1.6% per year, less than the national increase of 2.0%1

On average, Australians spent 1.9% of their income on health in 2021–22, estimated to be 0.2% of their net worth. Individuals’ health spending has increased over the past decade but at a slower rate relative to their wage growth and net worth (2.1% increase in health spending compared to 2.7% in income growth and 6.8% increase in net worth).1

On average, total health spending by individuals in Australia in 2021–22 was made up of:

  • non-benefit medications (35.1%)
  • dental health (19.8%)
  • medical services (14.9%)
  • hospitals (10.4%)
  • other health practitioners (3.4%)
  • benefit paid-pharmaceuticals (4.7%).1

Spending by area

The majority of total health expenditure in 2021–22 was recurrent spending (95.1%) and the remaining 4.9% was capital. Over the past decade this varied very little from year to year despite periodic significant capital investments in different regions.1

The greatest proportion of spending was for public and private hospitals (39.8%), followed by primary health care (34.9%) which include GP/dental/other health practitioners, community health, public health and benefit-paid pharmaceuticals and other medications (Table 1). Other areas of spending included referred medical services (10.4%), research (3.0%) and other services (7.1%) including patient transport, medical aids and administration.1

In 2021–22, public health spending was 6.6% of total expenditure, and this included communicable disease control, organised immunisation, food standards and hygiene, cancer screening, prevention of hazardous and harmful drug use and preventive health. This compares to 1.8% of total expenditure in 2019–20.4

Table 1: Area and funding source of Australian health expenditure, 2021–22

Trends

Recurrent spending on primary health care increased in real terms by $8.294 billion (10.9%) from 2020–21 to 2021–22, surpassing the percentage increase in hospital expenditure (4.6%, $4.205 billion).1 This growth was mainly due to increased spending by the Australian Government of $6.336 billion while state and territory governments and non-government entities spending on primary health care increased by 15.9% ($2.020 billion) and decreased by 0.2% ($61.5 million), respectively, compared to 2020–21.1

In real terms, spending on research increased by $260.2 million (3.7%) between 2020–21 and 2021–22. This was higher than the average annual real growth rate of 2.6% over the past decade.1

International comparisons

In 2021, Australia’s spending on health as a ratio of GDP ranked 15th among the 38 OECD member countries, with a ratio of 10.5% (Figure 2). This compares with OECD median of 9.7%.5

Figure 2: Health spending to GDP ratios and Australia's rank among OECD countries, current prices and local currencies, 2011 to 2021

Note: This dashboard is developed and maintained by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

COVID-19 health response spending

COVID-19 spending continued in 2021–22. Over the period 2019–20 to 2021–22, an estimated $45.0 billion was spent nationally— $24.9 billion on the National Partnership on COVID-19 response (NPCR) and $20.0 billion on the Department of Health and Aged Care programs (in current prices). In 2021–22, NPCR spending totalled $12.8 billion with the Commonwealth share made up of $4.3 billion in state public health payments, $1.9 billion in hospital payments and $0.4 billion in private hospital financial viability payments (Figure 3).5 A more detailed report of COVID-19 expenditure reported a total of $47.9 billion spent over this period.6

Under the NPCR, state and territory governments combined funded $4.3 billion on state public health payments and $1.9 billion on hospital services payments in 2021–22 (Figure 3).5

Figure 3: Health spending on the NPCR, current prices, 2019–20 to 2021–22

Note: This dashboard is developed and maintained by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Excluding the NPCR and aged care COVID-19 spending, the Department of Health and Aged Care spent a total of $20.0 billion (current prices) including $12.1 billion in 2021–22. The majority of funds went towards COVID-19 vaccinations ($5.4 billion) and COVID-19-related medical services ($3.8 billion) in 2021–22 (Figure 4).5

Figure 4: Australian Government spending on COVID-19 through Department of Health and Aged Care programs, by areas of spending, current prices, 2019–20 to 2021–22

Note: This dashboard is developed and maintained by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Additional information

More expenditure information is available from:

References

  1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2023. Health expenditure Australia 2021-22, Australian Government, Canberra, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/health-welfare-expenditure/health-expenditure-australia-2021-22/contents/about, accessed 29 February 2024.
  2. Queensland Treasury. 2023. Queensland Budget 2023-24: budget strategy and outlook, Queensland Government, Brisbane, https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/resource/state-budget-2023-24/, accessed 29 February 2024.
  3. Queensland Treasury. 2020. Queensland Budget 2020-21: budget strategy and outlook, Queensland Government, Brisbane, https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/resource/state-budget-2020-21/, accessed 10 January 2023.
  4. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2021. Health expenditure Australia 2019-20, Australian Government, Canberra, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/health-welfare-expenditure/health-expenditure-australia-2019-20/contents/about, accessed 2 April 2024.
  5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2023. Health expenditure, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/health-welfare-expenditure/health-expenditure, accessed 29 February 2024.
  6. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2023. Health system spending on the response to COVID-19 in Australia 2019-20 to 2021-22, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/health-welfare-expenditure/health-system-spending-on-the-response-to-covid-19/contents/about, accessed 4 April 2024.

Last updated: August 2024