Band 9: The table shows the total percentage of GDP spent on healthcare, with a breakdown into public and private spending in five different countries. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

The given table compares the distribution of total GDP spending on private and public healthcare across five countries.

Overall, France was the country that invested the largest amount of GDP in healthcare, while Japan’s spending recorded the lowest. Notably, there were significant disparities between public and private spending across all five countries, with public healthcare consistently receiving much higher percentages of GDP spending.

In detail, France’s spending on healthcare ranked first, at 11.4% in total, 8.6% of which was allocated to public spending, more than double the figure for private healthcare (2.8%). This was followed by Germany, with 9.3% of its GDP spent on healthcare. Germany distributed 7.0% to public spending, compared to 2.3% of private spending. The USA’s figure for public spending was slightly lower, at 6.0%, whereas its private spending exceeded that of Germany (2.6%), making a total of 8.6%.

Turning to Italy and Japan, their total GDP expenditure on healthcare was comparable, accounting for 7.7% and 7.2%, respectively. While Italy devoted 5.3% to public spending and 2.4% to the private sector, Japan’s figures represented 5.8% and 1.4%, respectively.