Pharmaceuticals overview

In 2015–16, the total expenditure on pharmaceuticals in Australia for Indigenous Australians was $420 million, which was an average of $537 per person. For non-Indigenous Australians, the average expenditure was $891 per person.

The interactive figure shows Australian Government and Non-Government expenditure on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in 2015–16.

Viz 6. Directly administered expenditure (a) by the Australian Government, non-government organisations and individuals on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme and related expenditure, by Indigenous status, current prices, 2015–16 ($)

The bar chart shows that the expenditure per person by the Australian Government, through the PBS and the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) for Indigenous Australian was $146 compared with $406 for non-Indigenous Australians in 2015-16.