To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of national gross domestic product was spent on social care in each year since 2010; and where the UK ranked among other countries in the EU in this regard in each such year.
Answered on
8 March 2017
Public spending on adult social care as proportion of gross domestic product spent was approximately 1.1% in 2010/11, and approximately 1% for each year between 2011/12 and 2015/16.
The attached table sets out the relevant internationally comparable data on expenditure published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Social care is defined in different ways in different countries. The OECD has therefore developed a comparable measure of “long-term care,” which includes some elements the Department would classify as health care and therefore the OECD estimate is slightly different from the above. The OECD’s long-term care data is only available for the United Kingdom in 2013 and 2014.