Lowest Among BRICS Nations To 2.1% Of GDP: India's Healthcare Spending Looks Up But Is That Enough?

As per the data, India's total expenditure on health in FY 2019 was 3.09 per cent of GDP -- only higher than neighbouring Bangladesh.

India's total expenditure on health in FY 2019 was 3.09 per cent of GDP

Source : World Bank

While the Covid pandemic has boosted India's public expenditure on health as per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), it still is the lowest among the BRICS nations, data from The World Bank shows. 

The Economic Survey 2023 tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Tuesday showed that the central and state governments' budgeted expenditure in the health sector reached 2.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022-23.

In comparison, just 1.6 per cent of the GDP was spent by the Centre and state governments on healthcare in 2020-21 (FY21)

However, data from the World Bank, which is based on FY 2019 numbers, portray a sorry picture. It should be noted the  data cited by World Bank includes both government and private investment.

As per the data, India's total expenditure on health in FY 2019 was 3.09 per cent of GDP -- only higher than neighbouring Bangladesh. Bangladesh's total health spending was just 2.5 per cent of GDP, the data shows.

India's other neighbours have higher health spending in per cent of their GDP. Pakistan and Sri Lanka's public expenditure on healthcare was 3.4 per cent and 4.1 per cent of their GDP respectively.

India also spends the least among BRICS countries, the grouping of five major emerging countries -- Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. As per the data, Brazil spends the most (9.6 per cent), followed by South Africa (9.1 per cent), Russia (5.7 per cent) and China (5.3 per cent).

READ | Economic Survey 2023: Govt Spent 2.1% Of GDP On Healthcare In FY23. Key Highlights

BRICS together represent about 42 per cent of the population, 23 per cent of GDP, 30 per cent of the territory, and 18 per cent of the global trade.

Countries with high development indices - USA, UK, Japan - have higher health spending. Among the three developed countries shown in the graph, US spends the most on healthcare, about 17 per cent of its GDP.

Japan comes second at 10.7 per cent, followed by United Kingdom at 10.2 per cent, the data shows.