Significant increase

Austria spent €52.3 billion on healthcare in 2023

From 2022 to 2023, healthcare expenditure increased by 2.38 billion euros.

(Bild: Andrey Popov)

Last year, Austria spent €52.28 billion on healthcare - 4.8% more than in 2022. Although expenditure fell due to the coronavirus pandemic, the public sector had to dig deeper into its pockets for other healthcare services.

According to Statistics Austria, the share of public and private healthcare expenditure in economic output fell from 11.2% to 10.9% because nominal GDP rose even faster than healthcare expenditure in 2023. However, it is "still above the pre-pandemic level", according to Director General Tobias Thomas in a press release.

More money for inpatient services
According to the first estimate for 2023 published on Wednesday, pandemic-related healthcare expenditure has once again fallen significantly. "However, public spending on inpatient services and treatment in private practices in particular has driven up expenditure," said Statistics Austria boss Thomas.

In 2023, 77.1 percent of current healthcare expenditure, or EUR 40.33 billion, was covered by the federal government, provinces, municipalities and social insurance providers. Compared to 2022, expenditure increased by 4.2 percent. Expenditure in connection with the coronavirus pandemic fell again significantly by €1.81 billion. However, the remaining public healthcare expenditure - such as for hospitals, treatment in private practice, long-term care and medical aids - rose by 9.6% at the same time.

Significant jump in expenditure by private households
The healthcare expenditure of private households, voluntary health insurance companies, private non-profit organizations and companies amounted to EUR 11.95 billion in 2023, which is 22.9% of current healthcare expenditure. Compared to 2022, this is an increase in expenditure of 6.7%; between 2015 and 2022, there was only an average increase of 2.8% per year.