This article presents key statistics on expenditure and financing aspects of healthcare in the European Union (EU). Healthcare systems are organised and financed in different ways across the EU Member States, but universal access to quality healthcare, at an affordable cost to both individuals and society at large, is widely regarded as a basic need. Moreover, this is one of the common values and principles of EU health systems.
Statistics on healthcare expenditure and financing may be used to evaluate how a healthcare system responds to the challenge of universal access to quality healthcare, through measuring financial resources within the healthcare sector and the allocation of these resources between healthcare activities (for example, preventive and curative care) or groups of healthcare providers (for example, hospitals and ambulatory centres).
This article forms part of an online publication on Health in the European Union.
It should be noted that data are presented in this article for 2020: for the first time therefore, this article includes data that show an impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions. For this reason, particular attention should be paid when comparing the 2020 data with data from earlier years. Note that the latest data for Malta and Norway are for 2019.
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