Advancing universal health coverage (UHC) requires not only increased health spending; it also depends on reliable, routine evidence on how health resources are mobilized, allocated and used across the health system. National health accounts (NHA) are standardized statistical records that systematically track how health funds are raised, pooled and spent within a country’s health system. They provide aggregated health expenditure estimates that support policy analysis, planning and monitoring of progress towards UHC, including financial protection, and service delivery.
Indonesia compiles and analyses data for their NHA as part of a routine statistical process for producing such estimates, using the comprehensive and internationally standardized World Health Organization’s (WHO) System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011. On 17 December 2025, the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Centre of Health Financing disseminated the results of the 2024 health accounts. National and local governments, the social insurance agency, academic institutions and development partners were engaged in discussing its findings and policy implications.
The 2024 health accounts show that total health expenditure reached Rp 639.9 trillion (2.9% of GDP) or around Rp 2.3 million per person. Over the past decade, health spending in Indonesia nearly doubled, driven largely by rising utilization of the national social health insurance scheme (JKN). Public financing remains the backbone of Indonesia’s health system, accounting for 58.5% of total expenditure. Out-of-pocket spending declined to 28.3%, indicating gradual improvements in financial protection. Yet the findings also warned that progress toward UHC would continue to depend on sustained public financing and greater efficiency, particularly through stronger primary care and tighter cost control.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has long supported Indonesia in the compilation, institutionalisation and use of NHA, alongside more granular analyses in pharmaceutical expenditure (PE) and disease-specific expenditure (DIS) accounts. This support has helped ensure methodological consistency, comparability with other countries’ data and closer linking between spending patterns and national priorities in health. Consequently, Indonesia has also consistently reported validated health-expenditure data (on a two-year lag) to the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database, bolstering global monitoring and cross-country learning.
"The production of NHA is a complex process that requires inputs from many stakeholders, and we expect stronger data interoperability across ministries and institutions so that these data can be better utilized in the coming years,” said Ahmad Irsan Moeis, Director of the Centre for Health Financing, MOH.
Institutionalising health accounts ensures that health expenditure data are produced routinely and become a trusted foundation for planning, budgeting, and policy dialogue. Institutionalised NHA, PE accounts and DIS accounts will inform health financing reforms, improve efficiency and reduce the risk of financial hardship as the country moves closer to UHC.
In the 2026–2027 biennium, WHO will continue to support MOH in strengthening the institutionalisation and policy use of health accounts. The approach will be more integrated and sustainable. Support will focus on embedding expenditure data use to inform financial protection, priority setting and service delivery reforms. Meanwhile, analytical capacity and data interoperability across national and subnational levels will be strengthened. This continued collaboration aims to ensure that health expenditure evidence is generated routinely, well understood and used effectively in support of equitable and sustainable progress towards UHC.
Written by Feby Oldfisra, National Professional Officer (Health Financing), WHO Indonesia