In 2025 Italian public health spending in relation to GDP has undergone a decline, going from 6,3% in 2024 to 6,2 %This expenditure is significantly lower than the 7,1% average for both the OECD and European countries. The gap between these countries, in terms of per capita spending at purchasing power parity, is estimated at more than €36 billion. These are the conclusions reached by an analysis conducted by Gimbe Foundation in view of the start of the discussion on the 2027 Budget Law.
“Public underfunding of healthcare is no longer an accounting issue for insiders, but a structural criticality that has weakened the national health service and compromised the enforceability of a fundamental right”, comments the president of Gimbe, Nino Cartabellotta.
Italy ranks last among G7 countries in healthcare spending, Gimbe reports.
In detail, the Gimbe survey, carried out on OECD data, shows how the gap between Italy and other European countries has widened in recent years. In public health spending as a percentage of GDP our country is placed behind 14 European countries in the OECD area and lags behind Germany (11% of GDP) by almost 5 percentage points and France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom by about 3 points. It also lags behind in per capita public healthcare spending. In 2025, Italy's per capita healthcare spending amounted to $3.952, $909 less than the OECD average and $1.013 less than the European average.
“In the European comparison, Italy is now steadily moving in the rear: ahead of us are also the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland and Spain, while behind us remain only a few countries of Eastern and Southern Europe", Cartabellotta continues. Looking at the historical record, Gimbe's work shows how Italy's gap with other European countries began to widen in 2011 and has not been closed since.
“Il gap overall it almost touches 36,1 billion"This is the chasm created by 15 years of progressive erosion of public resources, continued under governments of all stripes," concludes Cartabellotta, who, in view of the start of the debate on the budget law, calls for a change of direction: "We need," he concludes, "adequate resources for healthcare needs and reforms capable of translating them into truly accessible services, investing first and foremost in healthcare personnel and the uniform provision of essential health care benefits."
