China Closes In On US As Biggest Healthcare Market

China overtook Japan as the world’s second-biggest healthcare market in 2013, and with its annual healthcare spending forecast to reach nearly US$900bn by 2018, it will rapidly close the gap on the US, reports the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

EIU’s China Healthy Province Index (CHPI) provides a detailed healthcare profile of each of China’s 31 provinces,ranking provinces according to which are best placed in terms of resources and financing to meet current and anticipated healthcare demand. Beijing tops the CHPI, but one of the surprising outcomes was the strong performance of poorer provinces such as Qinghai and Gansu. Sparse populations in such regions ease pressure on local healthcare systems. Those that bottomed out include the rapidly developing central provinces of Henan and Anhui, densely populated regions where access to healthcare and funding is low despite booming local demand.

The EIU also reports how the Chinese government has been opening up the healthcare system to private sector investment, but warns that stresses in the system our mounting, as popular frustration over costs and access begins to “boil over”.

More information: http://www.eiu.com/chpi2014