Health care in Pakistan

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics' table of health institutions, beds and personnel counts, for 2024, 1,934 hospitals, 6,239 dispensaries, 802 rural health centres, 486 tuberculosis clinics, 5,746 basic health units and sub-health centres and 905 mother and child health centres: 16,112 institutions with 173,971 beds. Its sources include the provincial health directorates. The Finance Division's Economic Survey 2025-26 (table 11.1) gives the same counts for 2024, and repeats them for 2025 as provisional.

The health card: the Economic Survey names the Sehat Sahulat Programme in both its 2024-25 and 2025-26 Surveys as paying for hospital stays in public and private hospitals, run area by area. How many families each province's card covers was read only once, in one Survey, and is not given; the programme's own sites answered "not available in your region" and could not be read.

Health care is run mostly by the provinces: they spent 94% of public health money in 2023-24 (step 2). How many people have health insurance: the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics' household survey lists the measure and says "Will be updated".

Sources: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Health Institutions, Beds and Personnel (Progressive), table 10-2, table 10-2, read 20 October 2026. Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2026, chapter 11, table 11.1 and the section on Azad Jammu and Kashmir, read 20 October 2026. Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2025, chapter 11, the section on Punjab, read 20 October 2026. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2024-25, its report and its social indicators report, 2026, social indicators report, the summary on health and the list of SDG indicators, read 20 October 2026.

Current spending on health, public and private, without investment in buildings and equipment, as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), the value of everything the country produces in a year, by the count of the World Health Organization (WHO), made with each country's own data: 2.52% for Pakistan in 2023 and $30.49 a person, rounded here. 2023 is the newest year the WHO has for every country on the dial, so every figure it is set against is the same year and the same count.

On the dial, "typical" means between the lowest quarter and the highest quarter of the 10 countries Dooram covers: from 8.8% to 11.6% of GDP. "Less than most" is below that, "more than most" above it.

Read on 21 October 2026 in the WHO's Global Health Observatory and again in the World Bank's copy of the same series; the two give the same figure for every country, and for every year of Pakistan's below.

Pakistan's share by the same count, 2019 to 2023: it fell from 3.0% of GDP in 2020 and 2021 to 2.5% in 2023.

1. 2.82019
2. 3.02020
3. 3.02021
4. 2.92022
5. 2.52023

No rupee figure is given for it: the WHO counts by calendar year, and the State Bank of Pakistan's yearly averages, as the Economic Survey prints them, are for years from July to June.

Sources: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, through its Global Health Observatory and the World Bank's World Development Indicators, Global Health Expenditure Database, current health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product (GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011), 2023 (the World Health Organization's health accounts, every country's share of its economy spent on health, 2023), GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011; the World Bank's SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, read 21 October 2026. World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, through its Global Health Observatory and the World Bank's World Development Indicators, Global Health Expenditure Database, Pakistan (GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011, GHED_CHE_pc_US_SHA2011, GHED_GGHE-DCHE_SHA2011, GHED_PVT-DCHE_SHA2011, GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011, GHED_OOP_pc_US_SHA2011, GHED_EXTCHE_SHA2011) (the World Health Organization's health accounts for Pakistan, 2019 to 2023), GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011 and GHED_CHE_pc_US_SHA2011; SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS and SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD, read 20 October 2026.

The World Health Organization's shares of current health spending in 2023: domestic general government 35.72%, out of pocket 52.93%, external sources 9.67%, private 54.61%; private other than out of pocket, 1.68%, is Dooram's subtraction. "Government" is federal and provincial together. Read in its Global Health Observatory and again in the World Bank's indicators.

Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, through its Global Health Observatory and the World Bank's World Development Indicators, Global Health Expenditure Database, Pakistan (GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011, GHED_CHE_pc_US_SHA2011, GHED_GGHE-DCHE_SHA2011, GHED_PVT-DCHE_SHA2011, GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011, GHED_OOP_pc_US_SHA2011, GHED_EXTCHE_SHA2011) (the World Health Organization's health accounts for Pakistan, 2019 to 2023), GHED_GGHE-DCHE_SHA2011, GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011, GHED_EXTCHE_SHA2011, GHED_PVT-DCHE_SHA2011; the World Bank's SH.XPD.GHED.CH.ZS, SH.XPD.OOPC.CH.ZS, SH.XPD.EHEX.CH.ZS, SH.XPD.PVTD.CH.ZS, read 20 October 2026.

The Economic Survey 2025-26, table 11.5 (from the Finance Division's poverty-related budget spending): 942,188 million rupees in 2024-25, 0.8% of gross domestic product; its text gives Rs 942.2 billion, up 1.9% from Rs 924.9 billion in 2023-24, and its table 11.2 the same running and development spending. Years to 2023-24 read again in the 2024-25 Survey's table 11.4, the same figures.

In dollars at the 2024-25 average of 279.35 rupees to $1 (the State Bank of Pakistan's, as the Survey prints it), Dooram's conversion: $3.37 billion. The Survey calls the share of the economy "currently low".

Sources: Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2026, chapter 11, section 11.1-b, tables 11.5 and 11.2, read 20 October 2026. Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2025, chapter 11, table 11.4, read 20 October 2026. State Bank of Pakistan, as printed by the Finance Division in the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 and 2025-26, Exchange rate position, average during the year, US dollar (State Bank of Pakistan's figures in the Pakistan Economic Survey, chapter 8 tables), read 20 October 2026.

The Economic Survey's table of federal and provincial health spending for 2023-24, in million rupees: Punjab 551,876 ($1.95 billion), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 143,496 ($507 million), Sindh 134,165 ($474 million), the federal government 53,154 ($188 million), Balochistan 42,194 ($149 million); 924,885 in all. The same in the 2024-25 Survey (table 11.4) and the 2025-26 Survey (table 11.5). The shares are Dooram's divisions.

The 2024-25 split is in the 2025-26 Survey only so far, so it is not shown. In dollars at the 2023-24 average of 282.90 rupees to $1 (the State Bank of Pakistan's, read in both Surveys), Dooram's conversion.

Sources: Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2026, chapter 11, table 11.5, read 20 October 2026. Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2025, chapter 11, table 11.4, read 20 October 2026. State Bank of Pakistan, as printed by the Finance Division in the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 and 2025-26, Exchange rate position, average during the year, US dollar (State Bank of Pakistan's figures in the Pakistan Economic Survey, chapter 8 tables), read 20 October 2026.

The Economic Survey 2025-26: current spending 780,704 million rupees and development spending 161,484 million in 2024-25, federal and provincial together (table 11.5); its table 11.2 gives the same two figures. The shares, 83% and 17%, are Dooram's divisions.

How much goes on hospitals and how much on basic care is not in the Survey's tables (looked, found nothing). In dollars at the 2024-25 average of 279.35 rupees to $1, Dooram's conversion.

Sources: Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2026, chapter 11, tables 11.5 and 11.2, read 20 October 2026. State Bank of Pakistan, as printed by the Finance Division in the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 and 2025-26, Exchange rate position, average during the year, US dollar (State Bank of Pakistan's figures in the Pakistan Economic Survey, chapter 8 tables), read 20 October 2026.

Out-of-pocket spending by the World Health Organization's count: 52.93% of current health spending in 2023, $16.14 a person; 47.37% in 2022. Read in its Global Health Observatory and again in the World Bank's indicators, the same for every year shown. Neither says why the share rose.

Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, through its Global Health Observatory and the World Bank's World Development Indicators, Global Health Expenditure Database, Pakistan (GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011, GHED_CHE_pc_US_SHA2011, GHED_GGHE-DCHE_SHA2011, GHED_PVT-DCHE_SHA2011, GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011, GHED_OOP_pc_US_SHA2011, GHED_EXTCHE_SHA2011) (the World Health Organization's health accounts for Pakistan, 2019 to 2023), GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011 and GHED_OOP_pc_US_SHA2011; SH.XPD.OOPC.CH.ZS and SH.XPD.OOPC.PC.CD, read 20 October 2026.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics' household survey for 2024-25: health 3.34% of household spending, against 3.22% in 2018-19 (its report, section 3.8 and figures 3 and 4); its presentation of the results gives the same 3.34%. The other shares are from the same figure.

What the money went on, such as doctors' fees and medicines: the survey asked about out-of-pocket health spending, but its published tables of it were not found (looked, found nothing).

Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2024-25, its report and its social indicators report, 2026, report, section 3.8, figures 3 and 4; the presentation of results, read 20 October 2026.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics' household survey for 2024-25, social report: of diarrhoea cases among children under five where a practitioner was consulted, 46% went first to a private practitioner and 41% to government facilities (its summary and its section 4.3, table 8); 59% went private first in 2018-19. Government care counts dispensaries and hospitals, basic health units, rural health centres, mother and child centres and lady health workers.

The Economic Survey, in both 2024-25 and 2025-26, says "Health coverage in AJK is still inadequate". The survey asks families why they did not go to a government facility first; its table and its text do not agree, so the reasons are not given.

Sources: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2024-25, its report and its social indicators report, 2026, social indicators report, the summary and section 4.3, table 8, read 20 October 2026. Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2026, chapter 11, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, read 20 October 2026. Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 (chapter 11, Health and Nutrition; chapter 8, Trade and Payments), 2025, chapter 11, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, read 20 October 2026.