Health at a Glance 2015
How does Ireland compare?
KEY FINDINGS


Although expenditure on pharmaceuticals in Ireland fell over the past few years, it still
remains well above the OECD average.
The number of doctors per population is Ireland is lower than the OECD average,
while the number of nurses is higher. This does not mean that there are no shortages
of nurses if the demand for their services exceeds their supply.
Despite recent cuts, expenditure on pharmaceuticals in Ireland remains well above the OECD
average
As in many other OECD countries, pharmaceutical spending in Ireland has been cut in recent years
as policy measures were introduced to reign in public spending on health following the financial and
economic crisis. Still, spending on pharmaceuticals per capita in Ireland remains higher than in most
other OECD countries, and nearly 30% above the OECD average in 2013.
Expenditure on pharmaceuticals per capita, 2013 (or nearest year)
USD PPP
Prescribed medicines
Over-the-counter medicines
Total (no breakdown)
1026
1200
800
600
400
752
721
713
678
666
652
603
596
590
572
536
533
526
515
503
481
459
459
436
397
396
392
381
367
364
326
287
273
240
1000
200
0
1. Includes medical non-durables (resulting in an over-estimation of around 5-10%)
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-data-en.
2. Excludes spending on over-the-counter medicines.
As in many other countries, Ireland has introduced a series of measures to encourage the prescription
and consumption of generics to reduce pharmaceutical cost. Although the share of the generic market
has increased in recent years, it nonetheless remains relatively low compared with other OECD
countries, both in volume (29% compared with an OECD average of 48%) and in value (16%
compared with an OECD average of 24%).
Number and composition of health workers
The number of doctors per population in Ireland in 2013 was slightly higher than in countries like
Canada and the United States, but lower than the OECD average (2.7 doctors per 1 000 population
compared with 3.3 doctors for the OECD average). About one-third of doctors working in Ireland are
foreign-trained doctors. There have been recent efforts to increase the number of graduates from
medical schools in Ireland, although some new medical graduates intend to go work oversea.
6.3
20002000 and 2013 (or nearest year)
Practising doctors per 1 000 2013
population,
Per 1 000 population
7
5.0
4.9
6
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.1
4.0
4.0
3.9
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.6
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.2
3.2
3.0
3.0
2.8
2.8
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.6
2.6
2.3
2.2
2.2
2.2
1.9
1.8
1.8
1.8
1.7
5
4
3
0.8
0.7
2
0.3
1
0
1. Data include not only doctors providing direct care to patients, but also those working in the health sector as managers, educators,
researchers, etc. (adding another 5-10% of doctors). 2. Data refer to all doctors licensed to practice (resulting in a large over-estimation of the
number of practising doctors in Portugal, of around 30%).
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-data-en.
By contrast with other OECD countries, the number of nurses per population in Ireland was not
greater in 2013 than what it was in 2000, but nonetheless remains higher than in most other OECD
countries, except in Nordic countries and in Switzerland and Germany.
Practising nurses per 1 000 population,
2013
20002000 and 2013 (or nearest year)
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
17.4
16.7
16.3
15.5
14.1
13.0
12.4
12.1
11.9
11.5
11.2
11.1
10.5
10.0
9.5
9.5
9.4
9.1
8.3
8.2
8.0
7.9
7.6
7.4
6.4
6.2
6.1
6.1
5.8
5.6
5.3
5.2
5.1
4.9
4.9
3.6
2.6
2.0
1.8
1.5
1.3
1.2
1.2
1.0
Per 1 000 population
20
0
1. Data include not only nurses providing direct care to patients, but also those working in the health sector as managers, educators,
researchers, etc. 2. Data in Chile refer to all nurses who are licensed to practice (less than one-third are professional nurses with a university
degree). 3. Austria reports only nurses employed in hospital.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-data-en.
Having a high supply of nurses does not mean that there are no shortages of nurses if the demand for
their services is greater than their supply. This might be the case if nurses are asked to perform a
wide range of tasks in hospitals and outside hospitals, with very few health care assistants to support
them in their work.
Health at a Glance 2015 provides international comparisons of health status, risk factors to health,
health expenditure, health care resources, access to care and quality of care. For the first time in
2015, the publication also includes a set of dashboard indicators summarising the comparative
performance of OECD countries on these different dimensions of population health status and health
system performance.
More information on Health at a Glance 2015 is available at http://www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance.htm.
For more information on OECD's work on Ireland, please visit http://www.oecd.org/ireland.