Brussels, 23/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Throughout OECD countries, spending on pharmaceuticals increased by an average of 32% in real terms since 1998, to reach a sum of more than USD 450bn in 2003, according to data provided by the OECD. Spending represents an increasing part of health spending in many OECD countries. In the majority of them, over the last five years, their increase has been more pronounced than that for total spending on health. Between 1998-2003 spending on pharmaceuticals increased twice as fast as total health spending in the USA and Australia. Their rate of growth was more moderate in Japan, Italy and Switzerland. Pharmaceutical spending (outside the hospital sector) represented an average of 18% of total health spending in OECD spending in 2003 (30% or more in the Slovak Republic, Hungary and South Korea and by around 10% in Denmark and Norway.
In 2003, total pharmaceutical spending per person rose the most significantly in the USA (more than USD 700) followed by France (a little over USD 600) and Canada and Italy (around USD 500). Spending in this area was lowest in Mexico and Turkey (approximately USD 100). Sharp variations were observed in total health spending. In 2003, the USA spent USD 5,635 on health per head (twice the OECE average and ten times as much as countries with the lowest levels of health spending, Mexico and Turkey). In 2003, the USA spent 15% of its GDP on health spending, Switzerland and Germany a bit more with 11%, Korea and the Slovak Republic at the other extreme with a little under 6%. In 2003, the OECD average as 8.6%.