November 3, 2022 — National health expenditure trends, 2022 — the 26th edition of the annual publication on health expenditure trends — provides detailed information on health spending in Canada using the National Health Expenditure Database (NHEX).
This year’s release presents finalized 2020 actual health expenditures and preliminary estimates for 2021 and 2022. The 2020, 2021 and 2022 data includes government-budgeted funding for health-related activities as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. National health expenditure trends forecasts are based on main estimates and budgets for the public sector.
Note: Preliminary estimates are subject to revision when actual data becomes available in subsequent years. This year’s spending estimates may experience larger revisions than usual due to uncertainty around COVID-19 pandemic spending.
On this page:
Key findings
- Total health spending in Canada is expected to reach $331 billion in 2022, or $8,563 per Canadian. It is anticipated that health expenditure will represent 12.2% of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, following a high of 13.8% in 2020.
- Total health expenditure in Canada is expected to rise by 0.8% in 2022, following high growth of 13.2% in 2020 and 7.6% in 2021. Prior to the pandemic, from 2015 to 2019, growth in health spending averaged 4% per year.
- Hospitals (24.34%), Physicians (13.60%) and Drugs (13.58%) continue to account for the largest shares of health dollars (more than half of total health spending) in 2022.
- Spending related to the COVID-19 pandemic has continued in 2022. COVID-19 Response Funding makes up 4.4% of total health spending, compared with 9.9% in 2021. Federal, provincial and territorial governments (combined) spent $770 per person in 2020 for health-specific funding to deal with COVID-19. Pandemic response funding is projected to decline to $376 per person in 2022.
Report and companion materials
National health expenditure trends, 2022
National health expenditure trends, including share of total health expenditure by age group, health spending category and more
Data in brief
A summary of preliminary estimates of health expenditures for 2021 and 2022, and actual health spending figures for 2020
Technical note
Public health, and community mental health and addictions services spending: Information on how public health, and community mental health and addictions services spending by governments and government agencies is captured
Chartbooks
Contact us to request our chartbooks:
- Health Expenditures in the Provinces and Territories — Provincial and Territorial Chartbook, 2022
- Health Expenditures in the Private Sector — Private-Sector Chartbook, 2022
- How Canada Compares Internationally: A Health Spending Perspective — International Chartbook, 2022
Methodology notes
NHEX definitions, data sources, limitations and revisions to help you understand the data and interpret the analysis in the report
Infographics
Health spending data tables
Full data tables
Macro-level health expenditure data tables, by province and territory and by year
Individual data tables
Appendices A to D
Series A
Series C
Series D: Expenditure by use of funds in province/territory
D2: Private-sector expenditures (XLSX)
