What percentage of health expenditure is spent on prevention?

• A. 1-2%
• B. 2-3%
• C. 4-6%
• D. 10%

Answer: (B)

Prevention tends to consume only a small slice of total health spending because the bulk of resources are directed toward curative and acute care—hospitals, specialist services, and medicines. Prevention covers activities like vaccination, health promotion, disease prevention programs, and screening, which are essential but often less costly per person and yield long-term benefits that are spread across the population. Because of this balance, the share of total health expenditure allocated to prevention typically sits in the low single digits, with two to three percent commonly cited as a reasonable approximation. The exact figure can vary by country and how prevention is counted, but the idea holds: prevention is a comparatively small portion of overall health spending despite its important impact on future health outcomes.