How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries? – Peterson

This collection of charts examines how U.S. health spending compares to that of other large, wealthy OECD nations, utilizing metrics based on GDP and GDP per capita. The analysis draws from the OECD Health Statistics database for peer countries and the 2024 National Health Expenditure Data for the United States.

Relative to the size of its economy, the U.S. spends a greater amount on health care than other high-income nations.

Wealthy countries, including the U.S., generally allocate more funds per person toward healthcare than lower-income nations. However, even when compared to other high-income countries, the U.S. spends significantly more per capita on health.

Comparing health spending across nations is complex, as each country possesses unique political, economic, and social characteristics that influence its expenditures. Because health spending is closely tied to a nation’s wealth, the following charts compare the U.S. to similarly large and affluent OECD countries.

On average, other large, wealthy countries spend approximately half as much per person on health as the U.S.

Health consumption expenditures per person, which include the consumption of healthcare goods and services, averaged $14,775 in the U.S. in 2024. This figure is nearly $5,000 higher per person than in Switzerland, the next highest peer country. The average amount spent on health per person in comparable high-income nations ($7,860) is roughly half of the U.S. expenditure.

Per capita health spending grew more in other peer nations than in the United States between 2023 and 2024.

In all peer nations, health spending per capita rose between 2023 and 2024. However, the 6.4% increase in U.S. per capita health spending is lower than the percentage growth observed in other comparable countries, such as the Netherlands (10.8%), Germany (10.1%), Austria (9.1%), and Belgium (8.0%). The 6.4% U.S. increase is higher than the year-over-year growth seen between 2022 and 2023 (5.4%) and 2021 and 2022 (2.9%).

In terms of dollar amounts, the U.S. experienced the largest increase, rising $885 from 2023. This is slightly higher than the $862 per person increase in Germany and the $822 per person increase in the Netherlands.

Health spending as a share of GDP in the U.S. remained steady in 2024 as economic growth roughly matched the increase in health spending.

Over the past five decades, the gap between health spending as a share of the economy in the U.S. and comparable OECD countries has widened. In 1970, the U.S. dedicated 6.0% of its GDP to health, a figure similar to several peer nations (the 1970 average for comparably wealthy countries was 4.9% of GDP). The U.S. remained relatively aligned with other nations until the 1980s, when domestic health spending began to outpace GDP growth at a significantly faster rate. Since then, health spending as a share of the economy grew more rapidly in the U.S. than in peer nations until the 2020s.

All high-income countries experienced unusually high health spending in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. spent a record 18.7% of its GDP on health consumption that year. Spending decreased slightly by 2021. In 2024, the U.S. spent 17.2% of its GDP on health—a figure still substantially higher than the 11.2% average seen in peer countries.

At times the U.S. has seen faster health spending growth, but more recently, health spending growth has been higher in comparable countries.

While the U.S. has historically maintained uniquely high levels of health spending, recent years have seen faster growth in peer nations.

Starting in the 2010s, the growth of health spending slowed in both the U.S. and other peer nations. From 2010 to 2014, the U.S. saw an average annual health spending growth rate of 2.5%, compared to 5.4% during the previous decade. Comparable countries also experienced a slowdown, with average annual growth falling from 4.5% in the 2000s to 3.6% in the first half of the 2010s.

In the five years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic (2015-2020), the growth of U.S. health spending per capita was similar to that of comparable countries. The average annual spending growth rate for those peer nations then increased by 4.9% between 2020 and 2024, compared to a slightly slower 4.2% increase for the U.S. during the same period.

Health spending growth among peer countries outpaced the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic but returned to similar levels by 2023.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, GDP growth lagged behind health spending growth. By 2021, GDP growth had resumed an upward trajectory across both the U.S. and other peer nations.

Health spending has continued to outpace GDP growth in the U.S. and peer countries, resulting in an increase in health spending as a share of GDP.

United States health consumption expenditure data ised by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and published in the National Health Expenditure Historical tables. Health consumption for OECD countries includes peer nations: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom

Health consumption expenditures specifically cover the consumption of healthcare goods and services; they exclude investments in structures, equipment, or research, which have been removed from NHE totals and are omitted from OECD data. All figures are in current U.S. dollars.

OECD data carries several caveats regarding its provisional nature. GDP per capita data for 2024 is provisional for Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Finland, Greece, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Norway, the Slovak Republic, and Spain, while data for Korea is estimated. Similarly, 2024 health spending per capita data is provisional for Austria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Health spending and GDP data were unavailable for Colombia, the Czech Republic, Iceland, and Turkey.

There are also inconsistencies in definitions and time series when utilizing multi-year OECD data. Figures for 2023 and 2024 are estimated for Australia, Belgium, and Japan. Health spending data is marked as “Definition differs” for years prior to 2023 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, and Japan, and there are time series breaks for Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom in 2021 and 2023.

Data were downloaded on January 21, 2026.

The Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF are partnering to monitor the performance of the U.S. healthcare system regarding quality and cost.