Spending on healthcare as proportion of Hong Kong’s GDP grows by 50%

Public healthcare expenditure as a proportion of Hong Kong’s gross domestic product grew by nearly 50 per cent over the past decade, driven by the city’s ageing population, new data shows.

The domestic health accounts for the 2023-24 financial year, revealed by the Health Bureau on Thursday, detailed the spending trends and levels in both the public and private sectors.

Hong Kong spent HK$130 billion (US$17 billion) of public money on healthcare in those 12 months, or 4.3 per cent of GDP.

The amount was a 48 per cent increase from the HK$63.8 billion, or 2.9 per cent of GDP, spent in the 2013-14 financial year.

The growth was similar to the rise in the proportion of people aged 65 or older in the population, which climbed from 14.2 per cent in 2013 to 21.8 per cent in 2023.

Deputy Secretary for Health Raymond Wu Wai-man said the ageing population was a key driver of the higher public healthcare expenditure, alongside inflation and the increase in service capacity, and he expected the trend would persist.