What is the cost of UK Government Healthcare?
For the fiscal year ending in March 2027:
UK healthcare spending is budgeted to be £269.6 billion.
UK National Healthcare Analysis
This page shows the recent trends in UK national healthcare spending.
Recent UK Healthcare Spending
Chart S.31t: Recent UK Healthcare Spending
Chart S.32t: Recent UK Healthcare Spend as Pct GDP
In 2006 UK healthcare spending was about £90 billion, and healthcare spending was increasing strongly,
reaching £120 billion in 2011, but then moderated. Healthcare spending exploded during COVID to £218 billion in 2020.
For the year ending March 2026 healthcare spending was
£257.5 billion.
In terms of Gross Domestic Product UK healthcare spending was 6.1 percent of GDP in 2006,
and steadily increased as a percent of GDP to a peak of 7.5 percent of GDP in 2011.
In the 2010s healthcare spending was slowly declining as a percent of GDP, but then exploded over
10 percent GDP in the COVID year of 2020.
For the year ending March 2026 healthcare spending was
8.4 percent GDP.
UK Healthcare Since World War II
Chart S.33t: UK Healthcare since 1947
With the creation of the National Health Service in 1948 UK healthcare spending increased rapidly from 2
percent of GDP in 1947 to a peak of 3.4 percent of GDP in 1951 before declining to 3 percent of GDP in the mid 1950s.
Starting in 1956 healthcare spending began a long increase, reaching 4 percent GDP in 1970. It then resumed
a slower growth, reaching 4.1 percent of GDP in 1973 before blowing off at 4.9 percent GDP in 1975 in the inflation of the
1970s.
The inflationary 1970s saw two peaks in healthcare spending, at 4.9 percent GDP in 1975 and 5.1 percent GDP in 1982. But
then healthcare spending declined, down to 4.3 percent of GDP in 1990.
In the early 1990s healthcare spending increased, reaching 5.5 percent GDP in 1995, and then declined to 5.1 percent by
1998. In the 2000s healthcare spending increased strongly, to 7.7 percent of GDP in 2010 and then declined down to 7.1 percent of GDP by 2019. Healthcare spending jumped above 10 percent GDP in response to COVID in 2021.
Spending Data Sources
Expenditure data since 1983 comes from HM Treasury’s
Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis reports.
Detailed table of spending data sources here.
Gross Domestic Product data comes from measuringworth.com.
Central government spending data begins in 1692.
Local authority spending data begins in 1868.
