Current health expenditure (% of GDP) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Level of current health expenditure expressed as a percentage of GDP. Estimates of current health expenditures include healthcare goods and services consumed during each year. This indicator does not include capital health expenditures such as buildings, machinery, IT and stocks of vaccines for emergency or outbreaks.

Source: World Health Organization Global Health Expenditure database (http://apps.who.int/nha/database).

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Lesotho 11.27 2019
2 South Africa 9.11 2019
3 Sierra Leone 8.75 2019
4 Namibia 8.50 2019
5 Liberia 8.47 2019
6 Guinea-Bissau 8.35 2019
7 Burundi 7.99 2019
8 Mozambique 7.83 2019
9 Central African Republic 7.75 2019
10 Zimbabwe 7.70 2019
11 Malawi 7.39 2019
12 Tunisia 6.96 2019
13 Eswatini 6.78 2019
14 Rwanda 6.41 2019
15 Algeria 6.24 2019
16 Mauritius 6.20 2019
17 Libya 6.05 2011
18 Botswana 6.05 2019
19 Togo 5.73 2019
20 Niger 5.67 2019
21 São Tomé and Principe 5.53 2019
22 Burkina Faso 5.46 2019
23 Zambia 5.31 2019
24 Morocco 5.31 2019
25 Seychelles 5.19 2019
26 Comoros 5.17 2019
27 Cabo Verde 4.94 2019
28 Egypt 4.74 2019
29 Kenya 4.59 2019
30 Sudan 4.57 2019
31 Eritrea 4.46 2019
32 Chad 4.35 2019
33 Senegal 4.13 2019
34 Guinea 3.98 2019
35 Mali 3.89 2019
36 Tanzania 3.83 2019
37 Uganda 3.83 2019
38 The Gambia 3.82 2019
39 Madagascar 3.69 2019
40 Cameroon 3.60 2019
41 Dem. Rep. Congo 3.54 2019
42 Ghana 3.42 2019
43 Mauritania 3.30 2019
44 Côte d'Ivoire 3.30 2019
45 Ethiopia 3.24 2019
46 Equatorial Guinea 3.14 2019
47 Nigeria 3.03 2019
48 Gabon 2.77 2019
49 Angola 2.53 2019
50 Benin 2.39 2019
51 Congo 2.08 2019
52 Djibouti 1.80 2019

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Development Relevance: Strengthening health financing is one objective of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG target 3.c). The levels and trends of health expenditure data identify key issues such as weaknesses and strengths and areas that need investment, for instance additional health facilities, better health information systems, or better trained human resources. Health financing is also critical for reaching universal health coverage (UHC) defined as all people obtaining the quality health services they need without suffering financial hardship (SDG 3.8). The data on out-of-pocket spending is a key indicator with regard to financial protection and hence of progress towards UHC.

Original Source Notes: The World Health Organization (WHO) has revised health expenditure data using the new international classification for health expenditures in the revised System of Health Accounts (SHA 2011). WHO’s Global Health Expenditure Database in this new version i

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The health expenditure estimates have been prepared by the World Health Organization under the framework of the System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA 2011). The Health SHA 2011 tracks all health spending in a given country over a defined period of time regardless of the entity or institution that financed and managed that spending. It generates consistent and comprehensive data on health spending in a country, which in turn can contribute to evidence-based policy-making.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual