Healthcare expenditure as a share of gross domestic product in Portugal 1980-2023
Since the 1980s, Portugal has been progressively allocating more of its gross domestic product (GDP) to health services. The total expenditure on the health sector amounted to 10 percent of the GDP in 2023. This was a decrease from the previous year and from 2021, when the share of GDP spent on health in Portugal was the highest, at 11.1 percent.
Public health and household expenditures in Portugal
Even though Portugal invested less of its GDP on healthcare in 2022, this year had the highest overall expenditure on the sector. In total, the country spent 25.4 billion euros on health. Except for 2012 and 2013, healthcare provider expenditure has continuously increased in Portugal. Similarly, the spending per capita has risen every year and amounted to 2,474 euros in 2022. The health expenses of households have followed the same trend, excluding in 2020, when spending decreased. In 2022, families used almost 7.3 billion euros on health expenses.
Health infrastructure and workforce in Portugal
The Portuguese healthcare system counted with 243 hospitals in 2022, 183 of which were dedicated to general medicine. In terms of specialized hospitals, psychiatry had the highest number of medical practices, namely 23, followed by clinics for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. Portugal’s volume of physicians surpassed 25,000 in the same year, with the northern region having the highest number of medical doctors. The over 9,200 physicians in the north of the country were accompanied by almost 7,000 in Greater Lisbon.
