Health Economy Reporting
The Health Economy – Robust sector and stabilizing factor in times of economic crises
Health expenditures have increased over the past decades and, therefore, healthcare has been considered an economic burden. At WifOR, we are fostering a shift away from the political decision maker’s view of considering healthcare as a cost factor and towards a new perception of health as a smart investment.
Our Health Economy Reporting (HER) provides a structured approach for governments, the private sector, and public stakeholders to better understand the size, impact, and importance of the health economy. Acknowledged by the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth (World Health Organization 2016), HER is a useful tool for advocacy and capacity building. It enables an evidence-based health policy that steers and guides investments for health, employment and sustainable growth.
Our research quantifies the Health Economy in a new way and show the sector’s contribution to economic prosperity and employment along the value chain of health. What is more, due to its structure, the Health Economy is a stabilizing pillar for economies in times of economic crises. For instance, the sector’s contribution to Germany’s economic performance increased significantly during the global financial and economic crisis in 2009.
HER is an evidence-based monitoring tool that analyses the entire value chain of health and enables the comparison of the Health Economy and its sub-sectors to other important economic sectors. It aligns health expenditure data (surveys etc.) to national accounts allowing monitoring and planning of the Health Economy as a distinct and promising part of the overall national economy.
The calculations provided on this page are based on the following publicly accessible sources:
International values: Our calculations are based on Data by the World Input-Output Database and The Eora Global Supply Chain Database.
