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13 March 2025 | Country Update
Regulations on defining the service coverage of the public health system under preparation
3.1. Health expenditure
Between 2000 and 2017 health expenditure per person in Finland (when measured in PPP) more than doubled, from USPPP) more than doubled, from US$ 1806 to US$ 4128 (Table3.1). As a percentage of GDP, current health expenditure in Finland was the ninth highest among EU countries in 2016 (Fig3.1). Finland’s health expenditure has grown from 6.8% in 2000 to 9.2% in 2017, and is below that of comparable countries, including the Nordic region, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (Fig3.2 and Fig3.3).
| Table3.1 | Fig3.1 |
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| Fig3.2 | Fig3.3 |
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Public expenditure on health as a share of GDP has increased from 4.9% in 2000 to 6.9% in 2017. About three quarters of health expenditure comes from public sources (Fig3.4). About four fifths of private expenditure comes from out-of-pocket payments, while private health insurance constitutes less than a fifth of private spending (Table3.1). Public expenditure on health as a share of general government expenditure remained relatively stable at around 13%, which is substantially below other Nordic countries (Fig3.5).
| Fig3.4 | Fig3.5 |
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Table3.2 shows the latest available breakdown of health expenditure by function from 2017. In Finland, the dominant functions for public expenditure are outpatient care (24%), inpatient care (23%) and long-term care (16%). In addition, about a third of outpatient care (9%) is financed from private sources. Just under half of pharmaceutical expenditure is privately financed (5.6%), consisting almost entirely of out-of-pocket payments. Between 2005 and 2017, the share of health expenditure spent on outpatient pharmaceuticals and other medical non-durables dropped from 16.1% to 12.3%.
Table3.2
Over a half of public expenditure on health comes from municipalities. Since the mid-2000s the share of the municipalities in Government and overall health expenditure has remained relatively stable and has varied between 34% and 37% of current health expenditure. As in most municipalities social and health care is administratively integrated, it is not possible to obtain detailed expenditure figures for health at the municipal level. Overall for health and social services in 2017, the municipalities spent on average €3227 per inhabitant, of which €1221 (38%) were used for specialized care, €590 (18%) for primary care, and €621 (19%) for older people and home care (SVT, 2017). However, there are substantial variations between municipalities in health expenditure due to the population and service structure. In 2017, municipal spending on health, older people and home care varied from €1806 to €4744. The total NHI expenditure on health care was €2.8 billion in 2017, amounting to 13% of current health expenditure (Table3.2). Half of this expenditure (€1.4 billion) was reimbursements for purchasing medicines, with the remaining share being reimbursements for the use of private health care (mostly, by three quarters, rehabilitation), and refunds for employers for organizing occupational health services.