Hong Kong spent $130m in public healthcare in 2023/24

Care for ageing population was cited for increase.

Hong Kong spent $130m in public healthcare in 2023/24, or 51.8% of its Current Health Expenditure (CHE) and 4.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Health Bureau reported. 

This was mainly driven by the growing ageing population, according to the Hong Kong Health Bureau (HHB) Domestic Health Accounts (DHA) report for 2023/24.

During the period, the country’s total CHE was $251m, an increase of 8.6% or $19m compared with the previous year's figure excluding the COVID-19 expenditure. It is equivalent to 8.3% of the country’s GDP.

The public CHE as a percentage of GDP in 2023/24 at 4.3% was 1.5 times more than what was recorded in 2013-14 at 2.9%, the HHB said in its DHA report.

The health expenditure increased alongside the rise of the population aged 65 and above during the same period, when the ageing individuals accounted for 14.2% in mid-2013 to 21.8% in mid-2023.

Members of the public, in particular the elderly, rely heavily on the public healthcare system for inpatient and day inpatient services, the HHB said.

Public hospitals accounted for 91.7% and 95.3% of the total patient days amongst patients of all ages and those aged 65 and above, respectively.

Meanwhile, private healthcare expenditure accounted for 48.2% of the CHE, or 4% of the GDP over the same period.