Singapore's healthcare expenditure to hit US$24.6b by 2020

Public healthcare allowances are tipped to grow at a 8.3% CAGR  between 2016-2020.

Total healthcare expenditure in Singapore is tipped to hit US$24.6b by 2020, according to Frost & Sullivan data cited by CGS-CIMB, as the government sets aside more budget to meet the growing demands of its ageing population. Of this number, public healthcare expenditure is expected to account for US$15b and private healthcare expenditure will hit US$9.6b. 

In 2013, public healthcare expenditure hit US$8.4b. Frost & Sullivan expected public healthcare spending to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% to US$10.9b in 2016 and expand at a CAGR of 8.3% to 2020.

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Private healthcare spending, on the other hand, hit US$5.1b in 2013 with analysts expecting the figure to grow at a CAGR of 12.1% to US$7.2b in 2016 and grow by a CAGR of 7.3% in 2020.

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In 2015, healthcare spending per capita in Singapore hit over US$2,000 in 2015, beating neighbours like South Korea, China, Malaysia and Thailand but still falls behind Switzerland and US which allocated over US$8,000 in per capita healthcare spending. 

In response to the growing healthcare needs brought about by a rapidly ageing population, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat earlier unveiled a US$6.1b fund that will subsidise healthcare for Singaporeans born in the 1950s in his 2019 budget address, which comes on the heels of an earlier pledge to set aside $10.2b for healthcare expenditure.