[A comparative study of the expenditures on health research in 7 western countries in 1997 places the Netherlands at the bottom of the list].
OBJECTIVE
To compare the expenditures on health research in the Netherlands with those in other Western countries.


METHODS
Descriptive.


METHODS
The expenditures on health research in 1997 were determined for the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the USA and subsequently classified into: governmental funding for research in medical faculties or clusters; grants from MHRCs and other bodies; and private funding from industry and charities. The sources of information were the total research budgets 2002 of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, annual reports from charities, the Dutch Central Statistical Bureau and, for foreign countries, MHRCs or comparable institutions.


RESULTS
In 1997, the Netherlands spent the equivalent of 855 million US dollars on health research (extremes of the investigated countries: 382 (Norway)-32,283 (USA)). This was less than in the other countries, whether calculated per capita, in US dollars (55 (Netherlands)-159 (Sweden)), as a promillage of the gross national product (2.27 (Netherlands)-5.84 (Sweden)), or as a percentage of the total expenditures for health care (2.62 (Netherlands)-7.54 (UK)). Especially the industrial expenditures on health research in the Netherlands were low, but the governmental expenditures were also lower than in the other countries.
Ellenbroek
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Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum, Vakgroep Metamedica, Leiden.
van Ark
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Klasen
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D002017:Budgets; D003718:Denmark; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005381:Financing, Organized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D009664:Norway; D012106:Research / Q000191:economics*; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012586:Science / Q000191:economics; D013548:Sweden; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States