Pick any two wealthy democracies at random and ask how much each spends on healthcare per person. The numbers will probably be closer than you’d expect. Pick the United States and compare it to anyone else on earth, and you’re suddenly looking at a gap so wide it barely resembles the same conversation. That gap isn’t an anomaly or a data error. It’s the defining feature of how the US has built its system, and it raises a question that economists, policymakers, and ordinary people on both sides of the Atlantic have been arguing about for decades: does spending more actually buy better health?
Healthcare spending per capita isn’t a simple measure of how good a country’s healthcare is. It captures everything: hospital wages, pharmaceutical prices, administrative overhead, the cost of treating preventable conditions that never got caught early enough, and the structural choices a government made decades ago about who pays for what. Two countries can spend similar amounts and produce wildly different systems. A country can spend far less and still outperform on nearly every health outcome. The number is a starting point, not a verdict.
What follows is a country-by-country breakdown of the 15 highest-spending nations on healthcare per person. All figures are expressed in purchasing power parity (PPP) adjusted US dollars, meaning they account for differences in what money actually buys in each country, making cross-border comparisons fair. The ranking is based on 2024 data where available, with provisional estimates noted.
1. United States – ~$14,885 per person
According to OECD Health at a Glance 2025, the United States spends $14,885 per capita on health, adjusted for purchasing power – more than any other country in the world, and more than double the OECD average of $5,967. In 2024, that spending equaled 17.2% of GDP, compared to 9.3% on average across OECD members. Put simply: the US devotes nearly one-fifth of its entire economy to healthcare, while its peers average less than one-tenth.
The drivers are well-documented. Prices for procedures, drugs, and hospital stays are dramatically higher in the US than anywhere else – not because Americans use more healthcare, but because each unit costs more. Administrative complexity created by a patchwork of private insurers, government programs, and employer-sponsored plans adds enormous overhead that other countries simply don’t carry. The US spends over $1,000 per person on administrative costs alone – roughly five times the average of other wealthy countries.
For all that spending, the US does not lead on life expectancy, and maternal mortality rates are higher than in most peer nations. The debate about whether the system is worth its price tag has been running for decades and shows no sign of resolution. What isn’t debatable is the number itself.
2. Switzerland – ~$11,999 per person
Switzerland runs the most expensive healthcare system outside the United States, and it’s worth understanding why. The Swiss system is built on mandatory private insurance: every resident must purchase a basic plan from a competing private insurer, with the government subsidizing premiums for lower-income households. Insurers cannot profit on basic coverage but compete vigorously on supplemental plans. The result is near-universal coverage with no single-payer simplicity.
The Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker puts US health consumption expenditures at $14,775 per person in 2024 – almost $5,000 more per person than Switzerland, the next highest peer country. The average amount spent on health per person in comparable high-income peer countries ($7,860) is about half of what the US spends. Switzerland’s high per-capita figure is partly driven by significant private spending layered on top of compulsory coverage, along with some of the highest out-of-pocket costs in Europe through mandatory deductibles and co-payments.
What Switzerland gets for its spending includes excellent access to specialists, short wait times, and a healthcare workforce among the densest in the world. High salaries for healthcare professionals in an already expensive country account for much of the bill – and unlike the US, Switzerland’s spending does buy strong health outcomes by most standard measures.
3. Norway – ~$11,262 per person
Norway’s position near the top of this list is partly a function of its extraordinary national wealth. Oil revenues have funded a public sector that is generous by any standard, and healthcare is no exception. The Norwegian system is predominantly publicly financed, with the government covering the vast majority of costs through a combination of general taxation and a national insurance scheme.
The country has invested heavily in primary care and long-term care for its aging population, both of which are expensive to staff and operate. Norway also has some of the highest wages in the world for healthcare professionals, which flows directly into the per-person cost. Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland all have over 15 nurses per 1,000 population, reflecting the labor-intensive, high-quality care model these countries have built.
Norway’s outcomes are consistently strong. Life expectancy is high, preventable mortality is low, and patient satisfaction scores well. So unlike the US, Norway’s high spending does appear to buy better health. The question economists ask is whether Norway could achieve similar outcomes for less if it structured things differently, and the honest answer is: probably, somewhat. But with a small, wealthy population and political will to fund public services, the incentive to find out has never been urgent.
4. Luxembourg – ~$9,163 per person
Luxembourg’s position on this list surprises people who don’t know it well. It’s a small country – fewer than 700,000 residents – with one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world, sustained largely by its role as a European financial hub. High national income correlates strongly with high health spending, and Luxembourg is an extreme case of that pattern.
The country operates a social health insurance system where both employees and employers contribute, covering the vast majority of the population. It consistently ranks well on healthcare access and quality. The high per-capita figure reflects both the genuine cost of running an advanced health system and the Luxembourg premium: nearly everything costs more in a country where the average salary is among Europe’s highest. Healthcare workers command wages that match the broader labor market.
One structural feature that inflates Luxembourg’s per-person spending: it is a net importer of healthcare workers and services. Many residents cross borders into France, Belgium, and Germany for certain treatments, and Luxembourg’s system reimburses those costs. When cross-border care flows are counted against a small resident population, the per-capita figure rises faster than it would in a larger country absorbing the same total expenditure.
5. Denmark – ~$7,633 per person
Denmark runs a tax-funded universal health system where most services are free at the point of use, administered primarily at the regional level. In all peer nations, health spending per capita increased between 2023 and 2024, and Denmark is no exception. The country has made consistent investments in digitizing its health records and primary care infrastructure, which has helped manage costs while maintaining quality – though total spending has still risen with aging demographics and rising labor costs.
The Danish model emphasizes the role of the general practitioner as gatekeeper. Patients register with a GP who coordinates their care and refers them to specialists when needed. This structure keeps unnecessary specialist visits down and focuses resources on primary and preventive care. Denmark also places significant emphasis on mental health services and long-term care for elderly residents, both of which are expensive and both of which reflect social commitments that show up in the spending figures.
Denmark’s per-capita number sits comfortably above the OECD average. The gap between Denmark and that average is itself a statement about what wealthy Nordic welfare states have decided healthcare is worth.
6. Australia – ~$7,466 per person
Australia operates Medicare, its universal public health insurance system, alongside a parallel private insurance market that roughly half the population also uses. The dual structure means that total health spending captures both public expenditure through Medicare and substantial private spending by those who opt into supplemental coverage for private hospital rooms, dental, and allied health services not covered under Medicare.
OECD countries allocated on average 9.3% of their GDP to health in 2024, down from the peak reached during the COVID-19 crisis but higher than pre-pandemic levels. Australia sits above that average, reflecting both the administrative cost of running a mixed public-private system and the geographic reality of delivering healthcare across a vast, sparsely populated continent. Running clinics in rural Queensland or the Northern Territory costs meaningfully more per patient than running them in a dense urban center.
Australia’s spending on pharmaceutical benefits through its Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which subsidizes the cost of medicines for all residents, also contributes to the total figure. The scheme is one of the most comprehensive drug subsidy programs in the world and keeps individual out-of-pocket drug costs low while adding to the national aggregate.
7. Sweden – ~$7,040 per person
Sweden’s healthcare system is funded through county council taxes and provides coverage to all residents with minimal out-of-pocket costs. It’s one of the most decentralized systems in the OECD – 21 regional authorities are responsible for organizing and funding healthcare, which creates both flexibility and some variation in standards across the country.
Sweden spends significantly on long-term and elderly care, which is categorized as health spending in Swedish accounts and pushes the per-capita total higher. The country’s demographic profile, with a large share of residents over 65, means long-term care demand will only grow. Sweden also has comparatively generous sick pay and rehabilitation programs that sit at the border between health and social care, and how those are classified matters for cross-country comparisons.
Swedish outcomes are strong by any measure. Life expectancy is high, rates of chronic disease are relatively well-managed, and the system is broadly trusted by the population. But Sweden has faced real pressures in recent years: long wait times for specialist care and elective procedures have been a source of domestic frustration, and the debate about whether more privatization or more central coordination would help has been politically contentious for two decades.
8. Ireland – ~$6,842 per person
Ireland’s healthcare spending figure needs a small asterisk. The country’s GDP is significantly distorted by the accounting practices of the large multinational corporations headquartered there for tax purposes – so when health spending is expressed as a share of GDP, Ireland looks like a low spender. But the per-capita PPP figure, which measures actual money spent on actual people, tells a different story: Ireland spends generously.
The Irish system is a hybrid. Public healthcare through the Health Service Executive (HSE) provides universal access, but waiting lists for public appointments are long enough that around half the population also holds private health insurance. That private spending adds substantially to the per-capita total. The government has been expanding access to GP visit cards, which provide free GP visits to a growing share of the population – a reform that increases utilization and, with it, aggregate spending.
Ireland has invested heavily in mental health services, cancer care, and rare disease treatments in recent years, including negotiating access to some of the most expensive pharmaceutical therapies in the world. Those decisions show up directly in the spending numbers.
9. Iceland – ~$6,722 per person
Iceland is a small nation of fewer than 380,000 people with a publicly funded healthcare system operated by the Ministry of Health. Its position this high on the list reflects both the genuine cost of healthcare in a high-wage Nordic economy and the peculiar economics of running a full-service health system for a very small population. Fixed infrastructure costs – hospitals, specialist equipment, training programs – can’t be scaled down proportionally just because the population is small.
Iceland regularly outperforms much larger nations on health outcomes. Life expectancy is among the highest in the OECD, and the country has particularly strong records on cardiovascular health and cancer survival rates. The Icelandic government has also invested in genetic research through the Icelandic Health Sector Database and its partnership with deCODE Genetics, which has produced insights into disease risk that influence both domestic care and global medicine.
Out-of-pocket costs exist in Iceland, particularly for pharmaceuticals and dental care, but the system covers hospitalizations and specialist visits with minimal patient cost. High wages for healthcare professionals, the cost of importing medical equipment and supplies, and the expense of referring patients abroad for highly specialized care all factor into Iceland’s per-person total.
10. Germany – ~$6,638 per person
Germany operates one of the world’s oldest statutory health insurance systems, tracing its origins to Otto von Bismarck’s reforms of the 1880s. Today, roughly 90% of the population is covered through one of about 100 competing non-profit “sickness funds” (Krankenkassen), with the remaining 10% – primarily higher earners and civil servants – in private insurance. The system is built on social solidarity: contributions are income-based, and coverage is comprehensive.
Germany’s per-capita health spending rose by 10.1% between 2023 and 2024, one of the fastest growth rates among OECD peers. That sharp increase reflects a combination of post-pandemic utilization recovery, wage growth for healthcare workers following collective bargaining agreements, and rising pharmaceutical costs. Germany has one of the most hospital-dense systems in the OECD, and those facilities are expensive to staff and maintain.
Germany’s outcomes are solid but not uniformly world-leading, particularly for cancer care and cardiovascular disease relative to what the spending might suggest. The country has been engaged in an ongoing debate about hospital reform, seeking to consolidate overly fragmented hospital capacity without reducing access – a politically difficult exercise that will shape spending trajectories for years to come.
11. Netherlands – ~$6,555 per person
The Netherlands operates a regulated competition model where all residents are required to purchase basic health insurance from competing private insurers, whose pricing for the basic package is tightly regulated. The government provides income-based subsidies to help lower earners afford premiums. In structure, it resembles Switzerland – mandatory private insurance, competing providers, regulated coverage – but with lower overall costs.
Public expenditure accounts for the largest share of total Dutch healthcare expenditure, at 84%, a percentage significantly above the median for comparable nations, despite the private insurance structure. So while the insurance vehicle is private, the funding behind it is overwhelmingly public through subsidies and government risk-equalization transfers.
The Netherlands has one of the most generous long-term care programs in the world. Nursing home care and home health aide services are extensively publicly funded, and when those costs are included in health expenditure totals, the per-capita figure climbs. The country is currently reforming parts of its long-term care system to make it more sustainable as its population ages – changes that will affect future spending comparisons.
12. Austria – ~$6,520 per person
Austria’s healthcare system is a social health insurance model, where employment-based contributions fund coverage for workers and their dependents, with separate schemes covering civil servants, farmers, and the self-employed. A 2020 reform merged nine separate regional sickness funds into one national carrier, the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK), aiming to reduce administrative fragmentation and improve equity across the country.
Austria’s per-capita health spending rose by 9.1% between 2023 and 2024, among the steeper increases among comparable nations that year. Austria has a notably high number of hospital beds relative to its population and a hospital-centric care model that tends to be expensive to run. Efforts to shift more care toward outpatient and primary settings have been ongoing for years, but hospital infrastructure is deeply embedded in the system and doesn’t change quickly.
Austria also spends heavily on pharmaceutical care, with generous reimbursement policies for prescription medicines. The country has relatively low co-payments for patients, which removes financial barriers to care but adds to the overall volume of services provided, and therefore to aggregate spending.
13. Canada – ~$6,483 per person
Canada’s Medicare system provides universal coverage for medically necessary hospital and physician services through a publicly funded, provincially administered framework. What it doesn’t cover is prescription drugs outside hospitals, dental care, vision, or most mental health services outside hospital settings – gaps that a large portion of Canadians fill through private employer-sponsored or individually purchased insurance.
According to the Fraser Institute’s 2025 international comparison of universal healthcare countries, Canada ranks 27th out of 30 for the number of physicians per 1,000 population – near the bottom of the entire peer group. That relative shortage of doctors contributes to one of Canada’s persistent problems: wait times for specialist care and elective procedures that consistently draw criticism domestically. The irony is that Canada spends more per person than many countries that outperform it on access measures. Where the money goes matters as much as how much there is.
Canada’s high spending reflects the administrative cost of managing 13 separate provincial and territorial health systems with limited coordination, pharmaceutical costs that are high by international standards despite having a national drug review process, and the ongoing expense of delivering care across the second-largest country on Earth by area, with many remote and Indigenous communities that are expensive to serve.
14. Belgium – ~$5,744 per person
Belgium runs a compulsory social health insurance system administered through mutual health insurance funds (mutualités/ziekenfondsen), non-profit organizations with historical roots in the labor movement. Coverage is near-universal, and the system is known for strong patient choice – Belgians can see virtually any doctor or specialist without referral, which contributes to relatively high utilization rates.
That freedom of access is partly what makes Belgium’s per-capita spending what it is. When patients can self-refer to specialists, the volume of specialist consultations is higher than in gatekeeper systems, and specialist care is more expensive than primary care. Belgium has consistently grappled with containing this “free choice” dynamic while preserving the patient autonomy that the system was designed to protect.
Belgium also has one of the most developed pharmaceutical sectors in Europe, including the headquarters of several major drug companies, and has historically had relatively generous drug reimbursement policies. Negotiating down pharmaceutical prices while maintaining access to innovative treatments is a running tension in Belgian health policy. The country has made progress through horizon scanning and value-based reimbursement agreements, but costs remain elevated.
15. United Kingdom – ~$5,612 per person
The UK’s National Health Service, founded in 1948 on the principle of care free at the point of use and funded through general taxation, is probably the most internationally recognized public health system in the world. By the measure of this list, it is by some distance the most cost-efficient of the 15 countries here: it spends less per person than any other nation on this list while still covering the entire population with comprehensive services.
The NHS has faced sustained pressure in recent years from underfunding, workforce shortages, and a backlog of elective procedures that ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to clear. Post-pandemic waiting lists for routine procedures became a major political issue. The UK’s spending has grown in response, crossing the $5,000 threshold per capita and continuing to rise as the government has committed additional resources. About one in every nine jobs across OECD countries is in health or social care, and both health spending and the health workforce are expected to continue rising, driven by technological change, rising expectations, and aging populations. That trajectory applies nowhere more directly than the NHS, which employs around 1.8 million people.
The UK also has a parallel private sector, used by roughly 10-15% of the population to bypass NHS waiting times for elective care. That private spending is included in the per-capita total, but even adding it in, the UK remains the lowest spender on this list – a fact that reflects both the genuine efficiencies of a centralized single-payer model and the ongoing arguments about whether it is adequately resourced.
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What the Numbers Are Actually Telling Us
Spending more on healthcare per person does not guarantee better health. The United States is the clearest case: it leads this list by a distance, yet Americans live shorter lives on average than citizens of most countries ranked below them here. Life expectancy at birth in the US reached 79.0 years in 2024 – its highest ever – but the average across comparable wealthy countries sits at 82.7 years, a gap of nearly four years that decades of record-level spending has failed to close. Switzerland and Norway spend the next most and achieve genuinely strong health outcomes, but even they acknowledge that their systems carry inefficiencies that could be trimmed.
What this list does reveal is that wealthy, high-functioning democracies all spend a great deal on healthcare – and that spending is rising everywhere, driven by the same forces regardless of system design. Aging populations, technological change, and rising expectations are pushing costs upward. Meanwhile, spending on prevention, which briefly climbed to 6% of total health expenditure during the COVID-19 pandemic, had already returned to its historical level of roughly 3% by 2023 – meaning the investment that might reduce long-run costs is precisely the one that gets cut when other pressures arrive.
The more honest framing is that healthcare spending per capita is less a measure of healthcare quality and more a map of each country’s political choices: who pays, who gets covered, what gets reimbursed, and what stays out-of-pocket. Every country on this list has made different choices, with different trade-offs, and different populations living with the results. A country that spends generously on long-term care looks expensive next to one that doesn’t, even if neither is wasting money. The number doesn’t tell you whether those choices were right. It tells you what they cost.
Disclaimer: This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and is for information only. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions about your medical condition and/or current medication. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking advice or treatment because of something you have read here.
AI Disclaimer: This article was created with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by a human editor.