Nagaland allocated just 5.1% of public expenditure to health in 2023–24, the lowest share among northeastern states
DIMAPUR — For every INR 100 spent by the government in Nagaland in 2023–24, barely INR 5 went towards health.
At 5.1%, Nagaland had the lowest share of general government expenditure devoted to health among the north-eastern states included in the latest National Health Accounts estimates. The figure was less than half the share recorded by Meghalaya (10.7%) and Manipur (10%), and below Mizoram (7.7%), Assam (7.1%) and Arunachal Pradesh (6.1%).
The state’s estimated government health expenditure stood at INR 917 crore during the year, according to the National Health Accounts Estimates for India 2023–24. It amounted to 2.3% of Nagaland’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), while per-capita government health expenditure was estimated at INR 4,585.
The comparison, however, is not entirely one-sided. Nagaland’s per-capita spending was higher than Assam’s INR 2,282, but considerably below the INR 9,320 recorded by Mizoram, INR 8,885 in Arunachal Pradesh and INR 7,533 in Meghalaya.
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The figures point to a distinction between the amount spent per person and the priority health receives in the overall public expenditure. Nagaland's 5.1% share was the lowest among the north-eastern states listed in the report, despite its per-capita expenditure being higher than that of some other states.
The report’s government health expenditure estimates cover spending by government agencies at the Union, state and local levels. They include health expenditure by other government departments and quasi-governmental organisations, and are therefore not limited to the state Health and Family Welfare department’s budget.
There is also a limitation to what the report reveals about household healthcare costs in Nagaland. Its state-wise table of total health expenditure and out-of-pocket spending excludes the state, along with other small and north-eastern states, because the sample sizes used in the underlying surveys were considered insufficient to produce statistically significant estimates.
The government financing table, however, includes Nagaland and provides the comparative figures on which the state’s regional position is based.