The OECD just released its annual flagship publication: Health at a Glance 2025
The report shows that OECD countries have largely recovered from the pandemic and that healthcare quality and access have also been improving. However, financial pressures are growing, and despite the high risk of future health crisis and that investments in prevention are highly cost-effective at tackling risk factors, spending on prevention is back to pre-pandemic levels, showing that we have not fully learnt the lessons from COVID-19.
Key insights:
- Life expectancy has recovered to at least pre-pandemic levels in 25 of 38 OECD countries, reflecting resilience and the impact of health system responses.
- In 2024 OECD countries spent around 9.3% of their GDP on health on average. This is an increase from 2023, but still below the 2020 high during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Spending on prevention has dropped back to the low pre-pandemic levels at around 3% of total health spending on average, leaving health systems once again vulnerable to future health crises.
- Primary healthcare spending accounts for 14% of total health spending, also largely unchanged over time.
- 20% of all doctors were foreign-trained across the OECD in 2023, as countries face significant labour shortages in the health sector.
- On average across OECD countries, 87% of patients with chronic conditions rated the care they received positively, and 78% trusted the last healthcare professional they saw, but there is room for improvement for patients with more complex needs.
- Although women live longer than men, they also spend more years in poor health, spending 6.3 years with activity limitations after age 60 compared to 5 years for men.
- 19% of adults in the OECD are obese, and 14.8% report smoking daily, putting them at greater personal risk while increasing pressure on health systems and economies.
➡ 44% of people in the lowest income bracket report a long-term chronic condition, compared to only 28% in the highest income bracket.
Read the new publication HERE
