Spending less results in getting the services we deserve

Health & Education: By and large, Ireland gets the health and education systems it deserves, the report shows. We spend relatively less in both areas than our Western neighbours - and our vital statistics are correspondingly poorer.

In 2001, Ireland committed 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product to public health, less than any other OECD country. This figure compares to 6.9 per cent in the highest-ranked country, Norway, and 7.5 per cent in Sweden. Even the US spends more on its public health system (6.2 per cent), as well as spending 7.7 per cent on private health.

The Irish figure for spending on private health is 1.6 per cent of GDP, which is about average for western countries. Overall spending on health amounts to about $2,000 per person, compared to about $3,000 in Norway and almost $5,000 in the US.

Irish life expectancy at birth was 76.9 years in 2002, compared to 80 years in Sweden and 81.5 years in Japan. Ireland also has the lowest immunisation rate for one-year-olds against measles at 73 per cent, or 29th of the top 30 countries in the index.

The pattern in relation to education spending is similar: Ireland devoted 4.3 per cent of GDP to education in the period 1999-2001, lower than in any Western country apart from Luxembourg. By contrast, Norway spends 6.8 per cent of GDP, and Sweden 7.6 per cent. Some 22.3 per cent of the Irish population are recorded as lacking functional literacy skills, such as the ability to read a timetable or a set of rules for taking tablets.