Health Bureau releases Hong Kong's Domestic Health Accounts 2023/24 (with photo)
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The Current Health Expenditure (CHE) in Hong Kong in 2023/24 was $251,207 million, representing an increase of 8.6 per cent (or $19,955 million) compared with the previous year's figure (excluding identified COVID-19 expenditure). The CHE as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 8.3 per cent, and the CHE per capita was $33,334.
Public fund on healthcare ($130,072 million) accounted for 51.8 per cent of the CHE in 2023/24, or 4.3 per cent as a percentage of GDP. The public CHE as a percentage of GDP in 2023/24 (4.3 per cent) was 1.5 times that recorded 10 years ago in 2013/14 (2.9 per cent), increasing at a comparable rate as the growth of the proportion of the population aged 65 and above during the same period (from 14.2 per cent in mid-2013 to 21.8 per cent in mid-2023). This reflects that the ageing population is one of the key factors driving the growth in the public CHE.
Among other regions and economies with comparable shares of elderly population, Hong Kong is one of the places with the lowest public expenditure as a percentage of GDP. At the same time, Hong Kong is one of the regions with the highest average life expectancy in the world, while maintaining an exceptionally low infant mortality rate (1.7 per 1 000 registered live births in 2024) and achieving near-universal overall immunisation coverage of all vaccines under the Hong Kong Childhood Immunisation Programme among preschool children (over 97 per cent in 2024). This indicates the high efficiency and quality of Hong Kong's public healthcare system.
It is worth noting that members of the public, in particular the elderly, rely heavily on the public healthcare system for inpatient and day inpatient services at present. Public hospitals accounted for 91.7 per cent and 95.3 per cent of the total patient days among patients of all ages and those aged 65 and above respectively. According to the Hospital Authority (HA) statistics, elderly patients' total patient days per 1 000 elderly population was 5.3 times that of non-elderly (aged below 65), and the average HA total service cost per elderly population was 4.3 times that of non-elderly population. According to the population projection figures from the Census and Statistics Department, elderly population in Hong Kong will increase from 1.64 million in mid-2023 to 2.44 million in mid-2036, and reach 2.75 million in mid-2046. With the ageing population and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, the sustainability of Hong Kong's healthcare system, particularly the public healthcare system, will face numerous challenges.
For private healthcare expenditure, it accounted for 48.2 per cent of the CHE in Hong Kong (i.e. $121,135 million), or 4.0 per cent as a percentage of GDP, in 2023/24. Of private expenditure on secondary and tertiary healthcare, the percentage share of health insurance schemes (including privately purchased insurance schemes and employer-based insurance schemes) in private expenditure increased from 33.4 per cent to 44.8 per cent in the past decade (from 2013/14 to 2023/24) and has become an increasingly important funding source for private healthcare services. The Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) introduced by the Government in April 2019 provides members of the public with a choice of individual indemnity hospital insurance products that are subject to specific regulation with high market transparency, enhancing consumer confidence in using medical insurance. By the end of 2024, the number of VHIS policies has reached 1.428 million, which is estimated to account for approximately one-third of Hong Kong's individual indemnity hospital insurance market.
To enhance the sustainability of Hong Kong's healthcare system, the Government is comprehensively deepening the healthcare system reform, including advancing primary healthcare development to shift the emphasis of the healthcare system from treatment-oriented to prevention-focused and enhance the role of family doctors in prevention, treatment and management of chronic diseases, thereby reducing or delaying the use of more costly secondary and tertiary healthcare services. The Government released the Primary Healthcare Blueprint in 2022 and proposed to achieve a better balance between primary and secondary/tertiary care in overall healthcare expenditure, such as around 3.5:6.5, or even 4:6 in the long run. In 2023/24, primary healthcare expenditure accounted for 29.3 per cent of the CHE in Hong Kong, which is the highest percentage in the past decade, demonstrating the Government's efforts to promote primary healthcare development are bearing fruit. At the same time, the Government is committed to taking forward the fees and charges reform for public healthcare, with a view to optimising the use of healthcare resources amidst the mounting pressure on public hospitals. In addition, the Government will also enhance the price transparency of private healthcare service, as well as encourage the optimal use of medical insurance through the VHIS, with a view to ensuring the long-term sustainable development of Hong Kong's healthcare system.
The DHA is compiled in accordance with the guidelines given in "A System of Health Accounts 2011" collaboratively published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Eurostat and the World Health Organization. It classifies the overall health expenditure into four dimensions of analysis, namely Health Care Financing Schemes (HFS), Revenues of HFS, Health Care Providers and Health Care Functions. These data enable policymakers, researchers and members of the public to assess the performance of the Hong Kong health system over time and to make comparisons with other economies that adopt the same framework in calculating their health expenditure.
The DHA 2023/24 has been uploaded to the HHB website (www.healthbureau.gov.hk/statistics/en/dha.htm). Detailed classifications and time-series data are shown in an online interactive data dashboard with tables and graphs available to facilitate further analysis and research.
Ends/Thursday, October 16, 2025
Issued at HKT 17:50
Issued at HKT 17:50
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