§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of gross national product is devoted to the health services in the main EEC countries, including the United Kingdom, at the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. MoyleExpenditure on health care is not recorded on a strictly comparable basis in the national accounts of the various EEC countries, and there are widely varying definitions of "health care". There are therefore serious difficulties 201W in expressing such expenditure as a proportion of gross national product so as to allow meaningful comparisons to be made. However, a recent report by the OECD has estimated the proportion of gross domestic product spent on health care for various countries. The figures,
Country Year Public Health Expenditure Total Public and Private Health Expenditure United Kingdom … … … … … 1975 4.6 5.2 Belgium … … … … … 1974 4.2 5.0 Denmark … … … … … 1974 6.5 Not available France … … … … … 1974 5.3 6.9 Germany … … … … … 1974 5.2 6.7 Ireland … … … … … 1975 5.4 6.2 Italy … … … … … 1974 5.2 6.0 Luxembourg … … … … … 1974 Not available 4.0 Netherlands … … … … … 1972 5.1 7.3