Expenditure on chronic kidney disease
How much is spent on chronic kidney disease?
In 2023–24, an estimated $3.0 billion (1.6%) of total health system spending on disease and injury in Australia was attributed to chronic kidney disease (CKD) (AIHW 2025a).
The average health system spending per case of CKD in 2023-24 was $3,162 (males $3,999, females $2,442) (AIHW 2025b).
What is expenditure on chronic kidney disease?
This web page provides data on health care expenditure on chronic kidney disease (CKD), with details by health care service, age group, and sex.
It includes expenditure by the Australian Government; state, territory, and local governments; and the non-government sector (including private health insurance and individual contributions).
These estimates report direct, allocated and recurrent expenditure only. They do not account for the total amount spent on kidney health.
Further information on how the estimates were derived is available from Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023-24.
Note: the classifications used to define health services (such as hospitalisations) as related to CKD for estimating expenditure may differ from classifications used in other chapters of this report.
Where is the money spent?
In 2023–24, $2.7 billion (93%) of allocated CKD expenditure was spent on hospital services. This included expenditure on public hospital admitted patients ($2.3 billion), private hospital admitted patients ($262.6 million), public hospital outpatients ($197.9 million) and public hospital emergency departments ($8.5 million).
Prescription pharmaceuticals subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) accounted for 4.6% ($136.6 million). Another 2.5% ($75.1 million) related to non-hospital medical services (primary care and referred medical services), comprising general practitioner services ($32.5 million), specialist services ($20.3 million), medical imaging ($6.2 million), pathology ($15.6 million) and allied health and other services ($0.5 million).
A small amount of CKD expenditure (0.15% or $4.4 million) was for dental services (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Health system expenditure on chronic kidney disease, by area of expenditure, 2023–24
| Area of expenditure | Expenditure (AUD) |
|---|---|
| Public hospital admitted patient | $2.3B |
| Private hospital admitted patient | $262.6M |
| Public hospital outpatient | $197.9M |
| Pharmaceutical benefits scheme | $136.6M |
| General practitioner services | $32.4M |
| Specialist services | $20.2M |
| Pathology | $15.6M |
| Public hospital emergency department | $8.4M |
| Medical imaging | $6.1M |
| Dental expenditure | $4.3M |
| Allied health and other services | $0.5M |
Source:
AIHW Disease Expenditure Database
Who is the money spent on?
Expenditure on CKD in 2023–24 was low among young people but rose sharply from ages 40–45, to be the highest among men and women aged 75–79.
Expenditure on CKD was higher among males than females at all ages, except for 20–24-year-olds. From ages 70–74 to age 80–84, expenditure for men was at least 1.5 times as high as that for women.
Most of this difference related to expenditure on hospital services, where a total of $1.6 billion was spent on males, compared with $1.1 billion on females.
Expenditure on non-hospital medical services (primary care and referred medical services) was similar among males (across all age groups) and females ($39.0 million and $40.5 million, respectively).
Expenditure on prescription pharmaceuticals under the PBS was higher among males ($76.8 million) than females ($59.0 million).
References
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2025a) Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023–24, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 3 December 2025.
AIHW (2025b) Health system spending per case of disease and for certain risk factors, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 9 March 2026.