"Trends in the health spending to GDP ratio are the result of the combined effect of trends in GDP and health expenditure. Apart from Luxembourg, health spending grew more quickly than GDP since 2000 resulting in a higher share of GDP allocated to health. In 2009, OECD countries devoted 9.6% of their GDP to health spending, a sharp increase from 8.8% in 2008, following the recession that started in many countries in 2008 and became widespread in 2009." (Quoted from document)