Japan vs Netherlands: Government health spending as a share of GDP
Japan
8.7%
in 2025
Netherlands
8.5%
in 2025
Japan rank
7th
Netherlands rank
9th
Government health spending as a share of GDP over time
- Japan
- Netherlands
How they compare
Japan currently reports 8.7% against 8.5% in Netherlands, a difference of 0.2%.
The two have swapped places 4 times across 72 shared years of data; in 1880 it was Japan ahead.
Japan ranks 7th and Netherlands ranks 9th of 59 countries.
Across the 13 decades both report, Japan averaged higher in 8 and Netherlands in 5.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | Netherlands | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Japan |
| 1890s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Japan |
| 1900s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Japan |
| 1910s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Japan |
| 1920s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Japan |
| 1930s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Japan |
| 1960s | 2.3% | 2.4% | 0.1% | Netherlands |
| 1970s | 3.5% | 4.2% | 0.7% | Netherlands |
| 1980s | 4.4% | 4.8% | 0.4% | Netherlands |
| 1990s | 4.8% | 5.3% | 0.5% | Netherlands |
| 2000s | 6.1% | 6.7% | 0.5% | Netherlands |
| 2010s | 8.7% | 8.3% | 0.4% | Japan |
| 2020s | 9.4% | 8.7% | 0.7% | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher government health spending as a share of gdp, Japan or Netherlands?
- Japan, at 8.7% against 8.5% in Netherlands as of 2025.
- What is the difference in government health spending as a share of gdp between Japan and Netherlands?
- 0.2%, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and Netherlands?
- 72 years are reported by both, from 1880 to 2025.
- How do Japan and Netherlands rank globally for government health spending as a share of gdp?
- Japan ranks 7th and Netherlands ranks 9th of 59 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- OECD (2026); OECD (1993); Lindert (1994) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Government health spending as a share of GDP. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Public health expenditure divided by gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.