Healthcare expenditure as a share of GDP in Ireland 1980-2023

The total expenditure on health as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) in Ireland amounted to just 6.6 percent in 2023, an increase from the previous year. Between 2009 and 2013, spending on health in Ireland was over ten percent of its GDP before declining again since 2014.

Health expenditure in Ireland compared to Europe

In comparison to other European countries in 2022, Ireland ranked considerably low in terms of health spending as a share of GDP. At the top of the list was Germany, which spent 12.7 percent of its GDP on healthcare in this year.  The UK, Ireland’s closest neighbor, spent 11.3 percent of its GDP on health. 

Trend of healthcare workers in Ireland

In 2022, there were over 82.1 thousand individuals employed at hospitals in Ireland, since the year 2000 this figure has increased by nearly 32 thousand. Similarly, in the period since 2000, the number of general practitioners in Ireland has more than doubled to some 4.3 thousand in 2021.