Determinants of health expenditure in OECD countries: A decision tree model

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify the major variables in the estimation of health expenditure in OECD member countries with the decision tree method and to categorize the member countries by health expenditure.

Methods: The study population comprised the 2014 data of the 35 OECD countries. In the study, health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product was the dependent variable while gross domestic product per capita, percentage of total population covered by public and private insurance, out-of-pocket health expenditure as percentage of total expenditure on health, age dependency ratio, life expectancy at birth, number of hospitals per million population, number of physicians per 1000 population/head counts, pharmaceutical sales and perceived health status were designated as independent variables.