Band 5+: WRITING TASK 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The bar chart below shows current health expenditure totals as percentages of GDP* for various European countries for the years 2002, 2007 and 2012. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. You should write at least 150 words. * GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the total value of goods that are made and services that are provided in a country.

The graph illustrates the percentage of the GDP that is advocated to health from European countries in 2002, 2007 and 2012. Overall, the proportion of heath expediture range between 3% and 12%. While there is not an obvious trend for all countries, it is possible to see that, in general, the countries tend to increase or mantein the expediture from 2002, except for France, Luxemburg and Netherlands.

There are countries that have a constant spending, such as Belgium, Estonia with, Spain and Switzerland. From this category the most difference on health spending is between Belgium with 10% in contrast to Estonia, who spends 3%. Conversely, there are countries with more fluctuation on health expediture, for instance, France and The Netherlands, where the influx changed very year.

In the middle ground is possible to consider countries who had once change in the years studied. Such as Denmark, Lithuania, Norway, Polandand Slovenia who increased their expediture in 2012. In contrast, Luxembourg, decreased their health spending in 2012 by 5%.