Expenditure on final consumption of healthcare goods and services in Brazil amounted to R$ 711.4 billion in 2019, and corresponded to 9.6% of GDP, with R$ 283.6 billion (3.8% of GDP) of government consumption and R$ 427.8 billion (5.8% of GDP) of non-profit institutions serving households.

In 2019, per capita expenditure of non-profit institutions serving households on consumption of healthcare goods and services was R$ 2,035,60, whereas government expenditure was R$ 1,349.60. The main item in household expenditure was private healthcare services, which encompasses doctor’s appointment and health insurance, for example. That accounted for 67.5% of the total final household consumption expenditure on health in 2019.

Expenditure on medicines, which amounted to R$ 122.7 billion in 2019, except for the Popular Pharmacy Program, correspond to 29.3% of the expenditure on health of families in 2019.

Final consumption expenditure on Popular Pharmacy Program amounted to R$ 2.3 billion in 2019, meaning a nominal decrease of 17.2% from the amount in 2017, when expenditure reached its highest nominal value in the series (R$ 2.8 billion).

In 2019, gross value added (GVA) of healthcare activities was R$ 497.1 billion, which is equivalent to 7.8% of the overall in economy. GVA is a measure of income generation in each economic activity in a given period.

Private health generated 3.2% of the total GVA in economy, whereas the average participation of public health in total GVA was 2.2%.

The publication health Satellite Account 2010-2019 systematizes information about consumption and foreign trade of goods and services and about value added and job posts in health-related activities. For further information, see the support material and the complete publication.

Between 2010 and 2019, participation of consumption of healthcare goods and services in the economy went from 8.0% to 9.6% of the GDP

In 2019, final consumption of healthcare goods and services in Brazil reached R$ 711.4 billion (9.6% of the GDP). A total of R$ 283.6 billion (3.8% of the GDP) were relative to government expenditure and R$ 427.8 billion (5.8% of the GDP) to non-profit institutions serving households.

In 2010, final consumption of healthcare goods and services had corresponded to 8.0% of the GDP, with household contribution of 4.4% and government contribution of 3.6% of GDP.

In the comparison with countries selected from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it is observed that expenditure on healthcare in Brazil, as a proportion of GDP, is similar to the average of OECD (8.8%), although nations such as Germany (11.7%), France (11.1%) and United Kingdom (10.2%) recorded a total bigger participation.

In 2019, per capita expenditure on healthcare services of households and non-profit institutions serving households reached R$ 2,035.60, whereas per capita consumption expenditure amounted to R$ 1,349.60.

In comparison with OECD countries, the expenditure of Brazilian capitals on health exceed that of Latin American countries such as Colombia and Mexico, but 2.9 times smaller than the average observed for OECD countries.

67.5% of household expenditure on healthcare refer to private services

Private healthcare services are the main item in household expenditure on health. In 2019, they accounted for 67.5% of the total final consumption expenditure on healthcare. Private healthcare services include the amount paid to health insurance, including by employers, besides hospital services, ambulatory care and private support for diagnosis and private social services.

Expenditure on medicines, which amounted to R$ 122.7 billion, corresponded to 29.3% of the household expenditure on health of in 2019.

The real household consumption of medicines includes also medicines distributed for free by the government, and that are listed as government consumption expenditure. In 2019, expenditure on medicines distributed by the Popular Pharmacy Program in Brazil amounted to R$ 9.3 billion (3.3% of the final government consumption expenditure on health).

Government consumption expenditure amounted to R$ 283.6 billion in 2019, with 225.9 billion spent on Public Health services and 48.5 billion on the acquisition of Private Health services.

In order to analyze the real rise or fall of healthcare goods and services, it is necessary to disregard the effect of price rise. Between 2011 and 2019, mainly in years of economic crisis, final consumption of goods and services of the health sector increased more or decreased less than consumption of all the other goods and in the economy. In 2015, final consumption of healthcare goods and services increased by 1.1%, whereas that of non-healthcare goods and services fell by 3.3%. In 2016 changes were -1.5% for healthcare goods and services and -3.0% for non-healthcare goods and services.

Healthcare activities represent 7.8% of the Gross Value Added in 2019

Gross Value Added (VAB) is a measure of income generation in each economic activity in a given period and assesses the participation of the activity in the economy. It shows how much each economic activity adds to GDP.

Gross value added of healthcare activities increased from R$ 202.3 billion (6.1% of GVA of the total of economy) in 2010 to R$ 497.1 billion (7.8%).

The biggest increase in participation was that in Private Health, which changed from 2.1% of the total GVA, in 2010, to 3.2%, in 2019. The activity Public Health keeps an average participation of 2.2% in GVA of the economy.

With the effect of price rise aside, it is observed that the activities of the sector have a trend to decrease below non-health activities in moments of retrogression in the economy. In 2015 and 2016, the non-health activities fell by 3.4% and 3.0% respectively, whereas health-related activities recorded a negative change of 0.1% and 1.3%.

Health-related activities increased their participation in the total job positions in the country, with a change from 5.3% in total occupations, to 7.4% in 2019. Persons employed in health-related activities increased between 2010 and 2019, 49.2%, whereas job posts of other activities, not related to healthcare, recorded an increase of only 5.7%. Private health was the activity related to health recording the biggest increase in employment: 62.9%.

In terms of compensation, the average annual earnings of occupations in the Brazilian economy was R$ 35,300, whereas considering activities related to health, R$ 47,254. The biggest average annual increases were those of Pharmaceuticals, significantly above the compensation paid by Public Health (R$ 59,243), Private Health (R$ 42,505) and Trade of Pharmaceutical Products (R$ 37,105).