According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE) 2023, the value of current expenditure on health, of 26,559.6 million euros (2,574.2 euros 'per capita'), is equivalent to 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to preliminary data, current public expenditure (3.7% change) and private expenditure (6.6%) continued to increase due to the growth in the activity of public and private hospitals and private outpatient healthcare providers, such as doctors' and dentists' offices and multi-specialty medical clinics.
In 2022, current expenditure on health had risen by 5.6%, totaling 25.37 billion euros, corresponding to 10.5% of GDP and 2,463.4 euros 'per capita', says the INE, indicating that “the continuation of the recovery of non-covid-19 assistance that began in 2021 was the main cause for this evolution”.
This year, public current expenditure represented 64.8% of current expenditure, 0.4 percentage points (pp) less than in 2021 (65.2%), according to INE data which are final for 2021, provisional for 2022, and preliminary for 2023, the latter being prepared based on information available up to the end of April 2024.
For 2023, INE estimates that the relative weight of public current expenditure will continue to decrease (-0.6 pp) as a result of lower growth than that of private current expenditure.
It also states that in 2023, public current expenditure will have increased by 3.7%, "mainly reflecting the increase in personnel costs for public service providers”.
“This year, the sharp reduction in spending on the COVID-19 vaccination process and on COVID-19 tests (carried out in pharmacies and laboratories) had a negative effect on the evolution of public spending”, highlights the INE.
According to the satellite account, private current expenditure will have grown by 6.6% in 2023 due to the increase in healthcare activity by private providers, namely hospitals and outpatient healthcare providers.
Public hospital expenditure grew by 7.8% as a result of the increase in intermediate consumption (pharmaceutical products, clinical consumables, and others) and personnel costs (hiring, career repositioning and others).
According to INE, “these increases reflect, in particular, the integration of Hospital de Loures EPE into the universe of public hospitals, which had been managed under a public-private partnership regime until January 18, 2022”.
Compared to the 22 European Union Member States with available information, Portugal recorded the 11th largest increase in current health expenditure in 2022 (5.6%) and occupied 6th place in the ranking of countries with the highest weight in GDP (10.5%).
In the publication, INE also presents information on the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) of healthcare providers (including Research and Development - R&D and higher education institutions) for 2021, as well as GFCF of public healthcare providers for 2022.
In 2021, the GFCF of healthcare providers increased by 9.3% and represented 6% of the total GFCF of the national economy.
“For 2022, provisional data indicate a slight decrease in the GFCF of public providers (-1.1%) resulting from the decrease in investment by public hospitals (-7.3%) in medical equipment, which did not offset the increase in the GFCF of providers of administration and financing services for health systems (72.5%) due, essentially, to the acquisition of software licenses”, it highlights.