Health and National Competitiveness:An Empirical Analysis of the BRICS Nations

The rapid growth of the total health expenditure (THE) is an issue of major concern in most of the countries. Total health expenditure is defined as the sum of both public and private health spending in consideration of the ratio of total population of the country. This paper offers an integrated view of the relationships between health spending, productivity and its effects on gross domestic product. This paper aims to investigate an empirical association between healthcare expenditure out of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the BRICS Nations. Data on health expenditure and GDP for the period from 2000 to 2018 from World Bank and WHO was used to analyse the relationship between health expenditure as a percentage share of GDP and GDP of the BRICS countries are used. The data was segregated into two sections and analysed for two decades. The study reveals that in both the decades the total health expenditure as a percentage share of GDP has a direct proportional relationship with GDP for the BRICS nations, except for Brazil in the second decade where an inversely proportional relationship between the two variables is observed.