Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Gross fixed capital formation in the health care system is measured by the total value of the fixed assets that health providers have acquired during the accounting period (less the value of the disposals of assets) and that are used repeatedly or continuously for more than one year in the production of health services. While human resources are essential to the health and long-term care sector, physical resources are also a key factor in the production of health services. How much a country invests in new health facilities, diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, and information and communications technology (ICT) can have an important impact on the capacity of a health system to meet the healthcare needs of the population. Having sufficient equipment in intensive care units and other health settings helps to avoid potentially catastrophic delays in diagnosing and treating patients. Non-medical equipment is also important, notably the IT infrastructure needed to better monitor population health, both in acute situations and in the long term. Investing in capital equipment is therefore a prerequisite to strengthening overall health system resilience.

It presents the final consumption expenditure of households broken down by the COICOP (Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose) classification and by durability.  It has been prepared from statistics reported to the OECD by Member countries in their answers to annual national accounts questionnaire. This questionnaire is designed to collect internationally comparable data according to the 1993 SNA. In national currency, in current prices and constant prices (national base year, previous year prices and OECD base year i.e. 2010). Expressed in millions. For the Euro area countries, the data in national currency for all years are calculated using the fixed conversion rates against the euro.

It provides a faithful image, to the greatest extent possible, of the aggregates and balances of the general government sector in the SNA 1993 conceptual framework. In addition, it brings to light two relevant aggregates that do not belong to this conceptual frame work: the Total Revenue and the Total Expenditure of the general government sector. Unit of measure used - National currency; current prices. Expressed in millions.