Most OECD countries, including Australia, are facing rising
demand for health spending, according to a new OECD report released
worldwide today.
This has compelled governments to find new funds or pass a
larger share of health costs onto individuals. Nations have also
tried to contain costs, most typically in the hospital sector.
The report, Health at a Glance-OECD Indicators 2003, is
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's second
biennial report comparing key health data across its 30 member
countries. Australian data for the report were supplied by the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The report ranked Australia 10th in terms of health spending as
a proportion of gross domestic product in 2001.
According to the OECD, the main drivers of health expenditure in
developed countries are the development and diffusion of new
medical technologies and drugs. This is shown by:
- a surge in use of medical diagnostic technologies such as
computerised tomography (CT) scanners and magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) scanners
- rapid growth in surgical procedures such as cataract surgery,
and knee and hip replacements
- rises in expensive medical procedures such as coronary artery
bypass graft (CABG) surgery and coronary angioplasty over the
1990s.
Cost containment measures in the hospital sector, combined with
more ambulatory and same-day surgical procedures, have led to a
drop in the number of hospital beds in nearly all OECD nations, and
sharp reductions in average lengths of stay in hospitals.
The OECD average length of stay for acute care of 6.9 days in
2000 was above Australia's average of 6.1 days. In 1985 the OECD
average was 9.6 days.
Gains in life expectancy have been notable in OECD countries
over the last four decades. Australians gained an average 8.4 years
in life expectancy between 1960 and 2000 (to 82 years for women and
77 years for men). We were in the top 8 nations for both men and
women.
Australia also rated well in the proportion of people aged 65 or
over reporting good health -66% for men, 67% for women in 2001.
Australia is among the world's leaders in reduced tobacco
consumption, with 20% of adults smoking daily. Many European
countries, and Japan and Korea, have rates of 30% or more.
In contrast, Australia had the fourth highest adult obesity
rates (21%) behind the UK (22%), Mexico (24%) and the USA (31%).
The lowest rates were just over 3%, in Japan and Korea.
17 October 2003
Further information: Mr Michael de Looper,
AIHW, 02 6244 1145, mobile 0407 915 851
Media photocopies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 02 6244 1032
Printed/bound copies: or fax 0014 33 1 4524 8003.
The OECD media release is available at
http://www.oecd.org/media
Availability: Check the AIHW
Publications Catalogue for details.