Politics

How Much Do Countries Spend on Healthcare Compared to the Military?

Published

4 years ago

July 22, 2020

Iman Ghosh

Country Health versus Miitary Spending

Healthcare vs. Military Spending, by Country

Keeping citizens both healthy and secure are key priorities for many national governments around the world—but ultimately, decisions must be made on how tax dollars are spent to accomplish these objectives, and funding must fall into one bucket or another.

This infographic from PixlParade examines how much 46 different countries put towards healthcare and military spending in 2018, per capita.

Head to Head: Healthcare versus Military

Data for government and compulsory healthcare spending comes from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Note that these figures do not include spending through private insurance or out-of-pocket expenses.

Meanwhile, the data for military spending comes from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Country	Health spending (Per capita, 2018 US$)	Military spending (Per capita, 2018 US$)
U.S.	$9,008.77	$2,086.50
Norway	$5,361.00	$1,323.90
Germany	$5,262.83	$559.50
Switzerland	$4,687.26	$546.00
Sweden	$4,623.68	$574.90
Netherlands	$4,461.30	$651.50
Denmark	$4,441.07	$792.50
Luxembourg	$4,385.66	$650.80
France	$4,310.55	$791.00
Austria	$4,137.25	$381.00
Belgium	$3,868.82	$421.60
Japan	$3,787.74	$366.50
Canada	$3,719.86	$613.10
Ireland	$3,629.43	$229.80
UK	$3,336.55	$743.10
Finland	$3,331.65	$680.30
Australia	$3,311.33	$1,078.00
NZ	$3,188.39	$532.30
Czhechia	$2,632.67	$254.10
Italy	$2,574.96	$458.70
Malta	$2,448.73	$152.20
Spain	$2,414.69	$381.70
Slovenia	$2,227.77	$254.80
Portugal	$1,906.23	$431.00
South Korea	$1,848.76	$841.70
Israel	$1,828.40	$2,357.50
Estonia	$1,744.57	$458.60
Lithuania	$1,599.15	$377.10
Croatia	$1,553.67	$232.50
Poland	$1,511.18	$317.50
Hungary	$1,493.01	$184.60
Romania	$1,344.34	$223.50
Greece	$1,331.19	$547.10
Chile	$1,282.59	$296.10
Latvia	$1,111.67	$375.20
Cyprus	$1,103.03	$374.30
Bulgaria	$1,042.85	$136.30
Turkey	$946.83	$238.60
Russia	$873.00	$421.20
Colombia	$864.16	$204.10
Mexico	$582.05	$46.30
Brazil	$388.98	$134.50
South Africa	$267.85	$63.50
China	$249.83	$177.60
Indonesia	$55.62	$28.20
India	$18.80	$49.00
	Source: OECD	Source: SIPRI

Note: There are minor discrepancies in comparing table data to original sources due to recent estimate updates. Figures for Brazil, South Africa, China, Indonesia, and India come from the World Bank (2017).

The Top 10 Healthcare Spenders

The U.S. leads the world in government healthcare spending at $9,008 per capita – over 1.5 times that of Norway, the next-highest country examined.

Country	Per capita health spending	% of GDP	% of health spending
U.S.	$9,008.77	14.3%	84.7%
Norway	$5,361.00	8.6%	85.3%
Germany	$5,262.83	9.7%	84.6%
Switzerland	$4,687.26	7.6%	64.4%
Sweden	$4,623.68	9.3%	85.1%
Netherlands	$4,461.30	8.2%	82.1%
Denmark	$4,441.07	8.5%	83.9%
Luxembourg	$4,385.66	4.4%	84.1%
France	$4,310.55	9.4%	83.6%
Austria	$4,137.25	7.7%	74.7%

While per-capita government spending on healthcare in the U.S. is the highest in the world, this has not necessarily brought about better outcomes (such as longer life expectancy) compared to other developed nations.

It’s also worth mentioning that the above figures do not cover all healthcare costs incurred by citizens, as they do not account for private insurance spending or out-of-pocket expenses. According to OECD data, these additional costs tend to be the highest in places like Switzerland and the United States.

The Top 10 Military Spenders

Israel has the highest rate of military spending per capita, and has the distinction of being the only country on this list to invest more in defense than in healthcare.

Country	Per capita military spending	% of GDP	Total expenditure, US$M
Israel	$2,357.50	5.3%	$19,759M
U.S.	$2,086.50	3.3%	$682,491M
Norway	$1,323.90	1.6%	$7,067M
Australia	$1,078.00	1.9%	$26,840M
South Korea	$841.70	2.5%	$43,070M
Denmark	$792.50	1.3%	$4,559M
France	$791.00	1.3%	$51,410M
UK	$743.10	1.8%	$49,892M
Finland	$680.30	1.4%	$3,757M
Netherlands	$651.50	1.2%	$11,115M

Although the United States comes in second place here as well, in absolute terms, the U.S. puts more money into military expenditures than many other countries combined, at almost $700 billion per year.

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Public Opinion

Charted: How Democrats and Republicans View Government Agencies

Predictably, results diverge when both Democrats and Republicans are asked to rate key government agencies in the United States.

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped chart with the net favorability ratings of 16 federal government agencies, based on the respondents’ party affiliation.

How Democrats and Republicans View Government Agencies

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Forget the presidential race, the partisan divide in America can also be seen by how Democrats and Republicans feel about key government agencies.

We visualize the net favorability ratings of 16 federal government agencies, based on respondent party affiliation.

To find this data, Pew Research Center surveyed more than 10,000 adults, between March 13-19, 2023. View their methodology page for more details about the survey, the questions asked, and the results obtained.

ℹ️ Example calculation: This survey shows net favorability. As an example of how the score is calculated, 80% of the Democrats rated the CDC “favorable” and 15% rated it “unfavorable.” Therefore, CDC’s net favorability rating with Democrats is 65.

Republicans Don’t Like How the CDC Handled the Pandemic

The division in net favorability is deepest for three federal government agencies. While the CDC garnered a net favorability rating of 65 from Democrats, more Republicans rated the agency unfavorably, leading to a net favorability rating of -32.

Similarly, with the EPA and the Department of Education, the difference in net favorability between the two voting sides is as high as 70–80 points.

Federal Agency	Republican Net Favorability Rating	Democrat Net Favorability Rating
🔬 CDC	-32	65
🌿 EPA	-15	62
📚 Department of Education	-36	32
🚗 Department of Transportation	-18	46
💉 Health and Humans Services	-8	55
💰 Federal Reserve*	-20	31
🕵️ FBI	-15	43
💼 IRS	-35	13
💼 Social Security Admin	14	52
🕵️‍♂️ CIA	-8	30
⚖️ Justice Department	-10	23
🛡️ Homeland Security	4	27
📮 USPS	48	67
🚀 NASA	58	73
🏞️ Park Service	72	80
🎖️ Veterans Affairs	25	32

Note: *The Federal Reserve is considered an instrument of the federal government but does not receive funding from it. However, it is not a private entity either, despite sharing certain characteristics with one. Figures are rounded. No answer responses are not shown.

Pew Research Center notes that Republicans didn’t always view the CDC quite so unfavorably, though a direct comparison is impossible.

Nevertheless, per the source, in March 2020, 84% of surveyed Republicans expressed positive views of the CDC’s performance. By October 2022, just 32% said the CDC had done an excellent or good job of handling the pandemic.

Meanwhile, there are a few agencies the two sides do agree on: the National Park Service, the Postal Service, and NASA.

And they both agree on Veterans Affairs as well: though neither share a particularly high opinion of the organization.

Finally, Democrats consistently rate all sixteen agencies on the survey more favorably than Republicans, showing consistency about how each side views the government in general.