Singapore's healthcare spending to jump three-fold to $12b by 2020

Spending more on ageing population.

According to Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, at the Budget 2014 Debate Round-Up, Singapore's healthcare spending will continue to grow.

"We expect healthcare spending to reach about $12 billion by 2020 from $4 billion in 2011. This is therefore a three-fold increase from 2011 to 2020. The bill will grow further as our baby-boomer generation moves into their senior years," he said.

"So we will have to spend more as our society gets older, but we are not spending less in other areas. If you look at it demographically, you may think that as our society gets older, you spend more on healthcare and less on the young because younger cohorts are getting smaller," he added.