Current health expenditure (CHE) per capita in US$, 2022: $6,456.08
Source: Global Health Observatory. Current health expenditure (CHE) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) per capita in US$, 2022: $841.10
Source: Global Health Observatory. Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%), 2022: 13.03%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Domestic private health expenditure (PVT-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%), 2022: 16.05%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic private health expenditure (PVT-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Domestic private health expenditure (PVT-D) per capita in US$, 2022: $1,035.93
Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic private health expenditure (PVT-D) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%), 2022: 83.95%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (%), 2022: 7.96%
Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (%). Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) per capita in US$, 2022: $5,420.15
Source: Global Health Observatory. Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) per capita in US$. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed Jan. 23, 2025.
Health expenditure per capita, USD PPP, 2022
– Government/compulsory: $5,324
– Voluntary/Out-of-pocket: $956
– Total: $6,280
Health expenditure as a share of GDP, 2022
– Government/compulsory: 8.1%
– Voluntary/out-of-pocket: 1.4%
Health expenditure by type of financing, 2021
– Government schemes: 85%
– Compulsory health insurance: 0%
– Voluntary health insurance: 2%
– Out-of-pocket: 13%
– Other: 0%
Out-of-pocket spending on health as share of final household consumption, 2021: 3.0%
Expenditure on retail pharmaceuticals per capita, USD PPP, 2021
– Prescription medicines: $240
– Over-the-counter medicines: $59
– Total: $299
Expenditure on retail pharmaceuticals by type of financing, 2021:
– Government/compulsory schemes: 52%
– Voluntary health insurance schemes: 0%
– Out-of-pocket spending: 48%
– Other: 0%
Total long-term care spending by provider, 2021
– Nursing home: 61%
– Hospital: 0%
– Home care: 35%
– Households: 0%
– Social providers: 4%
– Other: 0%
Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.
Domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) as percentage of general government expenditure (GGE), 2021: 18.1%
Source: World health statistics 2024: monitoring health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: Statistical Annex. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2024. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Last accessed June 2, 2024.
Annual household out-of-pocket payment in current USD per capita, 2021: $913
Source: Global Health Expenditure Database. Health expenditure series. Geneva: World Health Organization. Last accessed May 13, 2023.
Total Health Spending, USD PPP Per Capita (2021): $6,372.1
(Note: “Health spending measures the final consumption of health care goods and services (i.e. current health expenditure) including personal health care (curative care, rehabilitative care, long-term care, ancillary services and medical goods) and collective services (prevention and public health services as well as health administration), but excluding spending on investments. Health care is financed through a mix of financing arrangements including government spending and compulsory health insurance (“Government/compulsory”) as well as voluntary health insurance and private funds such as households’ out-of-pocket payments, NGOs and private corporations (“Voluntary”). This indicator is presented as a total and by type of financing (“Government/compulsory”, “Voluntary”, “Out-of-pocket”) and is measured as a share of GDP, as a share of total health spending and in USD per capita (using economy-wide PPPs).”
Source: OECD (2023), Health spending (indicator). doi: 10.1787/8643de7e-en (Accessed on 16 December 2023).
Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (Current USD), 2010-2019: $60,213
Share of Household Income, 2010-2019
– Bottom 40%: 23%
– Top 20%: 38%
– Bottom 20%: 9%
Gini Coefficient, 2010-2019: 28
Palma Index of Income Inequality, 2010-2019: 1.0
Note: Gini coefficient – Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.
Palma index of income inequality – Palma index is defined as the ratio of the richest 10% of the population’s share of gross national income divided by the poorest 40%’s share.
Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2023: For every child, vaccination, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, April 2023.
“In the years before the pandemic, health spending as a share of GDP in Denmark had remained relatively stable at around 10.2 % of GDP, but this share increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to increases in health spending. In 2021, health spending in Denmark accounted for 10.8 % of GDP, which nonetheless remained slightly below the EU average of 11.0 %.
“However, as shown in Figure 9, health spending per person in Denmark in 2021 was higher than the EU average, at EUR 4 325 per capita (adjusted for differences in purchasing power) compared to EUR 4 029. Most health spending (85 % in 2021) was funded by government through general taxation. This proportion of public funding has been stable over the past 15 years, and is higher than the EU average (81 %). Private spending accounted for the remaining 15 % of health expenditure in 2021: 13 % was paid out of pocket, while the remaining 2 % was covered through voluntary health insurance (VHI). Complementary VHI is purchased by over 40 % of the population to cover user charges for outpatient medicines, dental care and other services.”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023), Denmark: Country Health Profile 2023, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
“The highest share of health spending is allocated to outpatient care (32 % of total health expenditure or EUR 1 403 per person in 2021), followed by inpatient and long-term care (Figure 10). The proportion of spending on outpatient pharmaceuticals and medical devices is low, accounting for only 10 % of total health expenditure in 2021, compared to an EU average of 17 %. Denmark has had strict cost-containment measures for pharmaceutical spending in place for many years. Generic prescribing and substitution are widely implemented, and value-based purchasing has been conducted jointly by all five regions since 1990. Nevertheless, the addition of pharmaceutical spending in hospitals (which is reported here under inpatient care) would increase overall spending on pharmaceuticals significantly (about 44 % of total pharmaceutical spending was in hospitals in 2021).
“Spending on public health and prevention in Denmark increased greatly during the pandemic, and accounted for nearly 9 % of total health spending in 2021 – a higher share than what was usually spent on public health and prevention before the pandemic (less than 3 %).”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023), Denmark: Country Health Profile 2023, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
Danish Health System Overview
Health System Rankings
Health System Outcomes
Coverage and Access
Costs for Consumers
Health System Expenditures
Health System Financing
Preventive Healthcare
World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other nations.
Page last updated April 19, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.