South Korea's national health spending hits record W225tr, 8.4% of GDP

South Korea's national health expenditure — covering spending on medical services, pharmaceuticals and related goods — reached a record 225 trillion won ($163 billion) last year.

According to the National Health Accounts report released Tuesday by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service, national health expenditure for 2025 (preliminary) stood at 224.99 trillion won, up 3.8 percent from the previous year. The figure equals 8.4 percent of GDP.

National health expenditure comprises two components: personal health care — spending on services and goods delivered directly to individuals, including costs at medical institutions and pharmacies — and collective health care, which covers expenditures on prevention, public health projects and health administration targeting the general public.

Of the roughly 225 trillion won total last year, personal health care accounted for 208.3 trillion won, or 92.6 percent. Collective health care made up the remaining 16.7 trillion won, or 7.4 percent.

Personal health care spending crossed the 200 trillion won threshold for the first time, rising from 196.6 trillion won in 2024.

Breaking down personal health care by category, outpatient care led at 72.6 trillion won (32.3 percent), followed by inpatient care at 54.5 trillion won (24.3 percent), pharmaceuticals and other medical goods at 46.6 trillion won (20.7 percent), and long-term care services at 29.4 trillion won (13.1 percent).

Per-capita national health expenditure was calculated at 4.35 million won.

National health expenditure has set a new record every year since 1970, with one exception: spending dipped slightly from about 205.4 trillion won in 2022 to 203.4 trillion won in 2023.

The total first surpassed 100 trillion won in 2014, reaching 102.29 trillion won that year, and crossed 200 trillion won in 2022 at 205.41 trillion won.