Apiar Data alpha
Get access
Health

Health Spending per Capita in Europe by Country (2024)

Health expenditure per inhabitant across 28 European countries in 2024: 11,329 EUR in Switzerland against 1,143 EUR in Romania, the lowest of those covered — a tenfold gap. Eurostat data.

Data through 2024 Updated Annual Eurostat
Average of the 27-country panel (2024)
4,335
EUR per inhabitant
+277 vs 2023
Highest
11,329
Switzerland
Lowest
1,143
Romania
Countries ranked
28
with a published figure

Data

Health Spending per Capita in Europe by Country (2024) — source data. Eurostat.
# Country EUR per inhabitant Change vs 2023
1 Switzerland 11,329 +517
2 Liechtenstein 10,844 +282
3 Luxembourg 7,305 +417
4 Iceland 7,280 +711
5 Ireland 6,728 +464
6 Germany 6,328 +433
7 Austria 6,302 +454
8 Denmark 6,298 +249
9 Netherlands 6,296 +400
10 Sweden 5,950 +240
11 Belgium 5,794 +280
12 France 4,834 +152
13 Italy 3,159 +120
14 Slovenia 3,109 +304
15 Spain 3,016 +159
16 Cyprus 2,854 +224
17 Portugal 2,765 +216
18 Czechia 2,488 +26
19 Estonia 2,310 +228
20 Lithuania 2,084 +203
21 Slovakia 1,916 +238
22 Greece 1,915 +96
23 Poland 1,827 +364
24 Latvia 1,815 +275
25 Croatia 1,677 +247
26 Hungary 1,391 +76
27 Bulgaria 1,389 +226
28 Romania 1,143 +171

About this Dataset

Measured in euro per person, the European health systems covered here differ by a factor of about ten: 11,329 EUR in Switzerland against 1,143 EUR in Romania. The panel average is 4,335 EUR, +277 on 2023.

This is the ranking that describes what a patient encounters — staff per bed, scanner availability, waiting time. The share-of-GDP ranking describes what a government has chosen to prioritise. They are not the same list.

Two adjustments matter before reading the spread literally. Market exchange rates overstate it, because healthcare is labour-intensive and wages are far lower at the bottom of the table; in purchasing power terms the gap narrows to roughly three to one. And a high share of spending in the lower-ranked countries is out-of-pocket rather than pooled, so the publicly available resource per person is lower still. Spain sits 15th with 3,016 EUR while ranking near the top of Europe on life expectancy, which is the clearest illustration in this data that resources and outcomes are only loosely coupled.

Every row is the figure published for 2024; no value is carried over from an adjacent year to fill a gap. Finland, Georgia, Malta, Montenegro, Norway and Serbia have not published a 2024 figure and are left out rather than carried forward from an older year. The chart tracks a fixed panel of 27 countries: those reporting in every year from 2013. The line therefore moves because the countries moved, not because the sample changed. Figures are at current prices in euro under the System of Health Accounts (SHA 2011) and cover current expenditure only.

Country pages: Switzerland · Liechtenstein · Luxembourg · Iceland · Ireland · Germany · Austria · Denmark · Netherlands · Sweden · Belgium · France · Italy · Slovenia · Spain · Cyprus · Portugal · Czechia · Estonia · Lithuania · Slovakia · Greece · Poland · Latvia · Croatia · Hungary · Bulgaria · Romania

Frequently Asked Questions

Switzerland, at 11,329 EUR per inhabitant in 2024, the highest among the 28 countries covered, ahead of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Iceland. Note how different this ordering is from the share-of-GDP ranking: high-income countries move to the top, while Germany, which leads on the GDP share, ranks sixth here.

Among the 28 countries covered, 11,329 EUR per person at the top against 1,143 EUR at the bottom, measured at market exchange rates. Converting to purchasing power standards narrows the gap substantially, because healthcare is labour-intensive and staff cost far less in lower-income countries. Even adjusted, the ratio between the best- and worst-resourced health systems covered here is roughly three to one.

Per capita in euro tells you what resources a health system actually commands, which is what determines staffing levels, equipment and waiting times. Share of GDP tells you what priority a country gives health relative to its means, which is the policy question. A country can be generous by the second measure and poorly resourced by the first. The clearest cases here are Bulgaria (13th on share of GDP, 27th per person) and Portugal (seventh on share of GDP, 17th per person).
Health
Health Spending in Europe by Country

The same accounts as a share of GDP, which produces a different ordering.

Eurostat Annual
Health
Switzerland Health Expenditure per Capita

Europe's highest per-person health spending, with the full annual series.

Eurostat Annual
Health & Wellbeing Analysis
Health Expenditure by Country (% GDP) — Global Comparison

Total current health expenditure as a percentage of GDP for 12 major economies from 2005 to 2022, sourced from World Bank WHO Global Health Expenditure Database (SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS). Covers both public and private spending and reveals structural differences in health system financing.

World Bank — WHO Global Health Expenditure Database (SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS) May 6, 2026