Financial resources for health are unevenly distributed geographically. Australia and Singapore have higher health expenditure per capita than the OECD average (USD 5 040, 2021), while most Asia/Pacific economies spend less than the Asia/Pacific average (USD 1 367). On average across the Asia/Pacific, two‑thirds of health expenditure is financed by governments or compulsory insurance schemes, and the rest is financed from voluntary schemes or concerns households’ out-of-pocket expenses (Figure 6.10). Around 90% of total health expenditures in Brunei Darussalam and Timor-Leste were financed publicly in 2021, whereas in Armenia, Bangladesh and Turkmenistan, more than three‑quarters of total health expenditure were financed privately.
On average, countries in the Asia/Pacific region with higher levels of GDP per capita did not necessarily spend more on health expenditure in 2021 (Figure 6.11). The four OECD countries in the Asia/Pacific region, Armenia, the Maldives and Timor-Leste, spent more on health expenditure than what would be expected given their level of GDP in 2021. Singapore, which has the highest level of GDP per capita in the Asia/Pacific region, spent less on health than the average across the Asia/Pacific region in 2021.
Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP grew steadily in most Asia/Pacific countries over the past decade (Figure 6.12). However, compared with the OECD average (9.3%), average health expenditure in the Asia/Pacific region remains relatively low (6.2%). There is also considerable variation across the region: health expenditure in some South-East Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Lao PDR, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea was less than 3% of GDP in 2021, while it was in excess of 10% of GDP in Armenia, Australia, Japan, the Maldives, New Zealand and Timor-Leste.
