Health expenditure: Italy at 6.3% of GDP below the OECD average (7.1%) and lagging behind the G7 countries
In per capita spending, 14th place out of 27 European countries. Cartabellotta: public underfunding is now structural, restore strength and dignity to the SSN with the manoeuvre
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Key points
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In 2024 Italy in terms of per capita public health expenditure ranks 14th among the 27 European countries of the OECD area and last among the G7 countries. Public health expenditure stands at 6.3% of GDP, a percentage lower than both the OECD average (7.1%) and the European average (6.9%). And for per capita spending, the gap with European countries is €43 billion.
The public underfunding of the Italian healthcare system," says Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Gimbe Foundation, "is by now a structural issue that, in addition to generating growing tensions in Parliament, is putting all the regions in great difficulty, as they are increasingly struggling to guarantee the essential levels of care while keeping their budgets in order. But today the heaviest bill for these short-sighted choices is being paid first and foremost by the citizens, who are forced to deal every day with out-of-control waiting lists, collapsing emergency rooms, a shortage of family doctors, increasingly marked territorial and social inequalities, and the ever more frequent need to pay out of their own pockets for health examinations and services to the point of giving up altogether. As many as 5.8 million people, almost 1 in 10, will be forced to do so in 2024'.
In view of the imminent discussion on the Budget Law 2026, the Gimbe Foundation analysed the data on public health expenditure 2024 in the OECD countries, with the aim of providing objective elements useful for political confrontation and public debate, in order to prevent any form of instrumentalisation.
The source used is the OECD Health Statistics dataset, updated to 30 July 2025. Comparisons with OECD and European countries have been made on public health expenditure, both in terms of percentage of GDP and per capita expenditure in dollars at current prices and at purchasing power parity. It is useful to recall that each country's public health expenditure includes several financing schemes, one of which generally prevails: general taxation (e.g. Italy, UK), compulsory social insurance (e.g. Germany, France), compulsory private insurance (e.g. USA, Switzerland).
Public health expenditure as a percentage of GDP
In 2024, public healthcare expenditure in Italy will stand at 6.3% of GDP, which is well below both the OECD average (7.1%) and the European average (6.9%). Among the European countries of the OECD area there are 13 that allocate a higher share of GDP to healthcare than Italy, with a gap ranging from +4.3 percentage points in Germany (10.6% of GDP) to +0.1 percentage points in Portugal (6.4% of GDP).
