Canada spends hundreds of billions on healthcare—and a new CIHI data set lets you explore where the money goes

The Canadian Institute for Health Information released data on healthcare spending, and physicians’ pay makes up one of the larger costs.The data is from CIHI’s National Health Expenditure Database, which compiles all healthcare spending, including out-of-pocket spending on medications. The most recent release is final 2023 healthcare expenditures and estimates for 2024 and 2025 spending. The forecasted spending is based on budgets in the public sector, among other sources. CIHI calculates that total healthcare spending in 2025 per Canadians is expected to reach $399 billion, which is $9,626 per person. Healthcare expenditures will represent 12.7% of Canada’s gross domestic product of 2025.The majority of healthcare spending for 2025 is expected to be on hospitals (26%), physicians (13.8%) and medications (13.3%). The spending on physician compensation went up 9.2% in 2023 from the previous year, was predicted to increase another 11% in 2024 and is expected to grow a further 3.1% in 2025. CIHI’s most recent data from 2024 recorded 99,555 physicians practicing in Canada. Physician pay cost $1,327 per person in Canada, the CIHI report suggests.In economic terms, the demand for physician services is greater than the supply. CIHI produced a report on access to primary care in December 2024 suggesting 17% of Canadians do not have a regular healthcare provider. Healthcare workforce was also the major cost in hospital spendings, costing $50.7 billion in 2023-2024. This is a 13% increase from the year before. CIHI suggests that this increase is partly due to increased spending for overtime, sick leave and payments to agency health workers due to workforce shortages.The spending on medications is projected to increase in 2025. CIHI notes this could be due to increased use of biologics and “blockbuster” drugs that are near their patent’s expiry date.Based on the data, CIHI forecasts that provincial and territorial governments pay for 65.5% of Canada’s overall healthcare spending, with another 5.7% from other public sectors. Healthcare spending varied across provinces and territories, from $30,086 per person in Nunavut to $9,045 per person in Ontario.The National Health Expenditure Database is available on CIHI’s website.

Canada spends hundreds of billions on healthcare—and a new CIHI data set lets you explore where the money goes

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