OBJECTIVES: The increase in total health expenditures has become an unsettling issue for most countries. The aim of this study is to examine the total health expenditures experienced in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for the years 2000-2010-2019.

METHODS: In the analysis, it is aimed to analyze the 10-year change in total health expenditures in OECD countries. Within the scope of the study, per capita health expenditure and population data of OECD countries for the years 2000, 2010 and 2019 were obtained from OECD Data due to 2020 data is not available for all countries. The total health expenditure of the country is calculated by multiplying the per capita health expenditure and the population number of 36 OECD countries.

RESULTS: As a result of the analyzes, the total health expenditures in OECD countries were found to be $2,720,158,826,394, $5,005,236,151,424 and $7,305,680,857,136 for 2000, 2010 and 2019, respectively. While there was an 84% increase between 2000 and 2010, it was found that there was a 46% increase in 2019 compared to 2010. Of the total health expenditure in 2000, 47% was made by the USA, 8.75% by Germany, 8.64% by Japan, 6% by France and 4.25% by Italy. Of the total health expenditures in 2019, 49.20% was made by the USA, 8.10% by Japan, 7.41% by Germany, 4.85% by France and 4.11% by the United Kingdom. In addition, the least health expenditures in the selected years were made in Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Slovenia.

CONCLUSIONS: It has been observed that almost half of the total health expenditure in OECD countries during the selected years was made in the USA. Although health expenditures in OECD countries increase continuously in numbers, no significant changes in the ratio are observed when analysis is performed within the total expenditure.