Towards Measuring the Volume Output of Education and Health Services

The measurement of volumes of health and education services constitutes a challenge for national accountants and price statisticians. In the past, such services have typically been measured by the inputs used to provide them but such an approach neglects any productivity changes in service provision. An increasing number of countries is now working towards output-based measures of the volume of these services. The present document summarises country practices and provides methodological guidance for output-based approaches in the measurement of health and education services. The handbook deals with volume changes over time within a country as well as with volume differences at a particular point in time across countries.