Interactive tool
Catastrophic health expenditure calculator
Check one household's out-of-pocket health spending against the budget-share, capacity-to-pay and discretionary-budget (SDG 3.8.2) definitions, with thresholds you choose.
Example values for demonstration. Calculations run in your browser; nothing you enter is stored or sent.
Results for this household
| Approach | OOP as a share | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Budget share (of total consumption) | 13.3% | Catastrophic |
| Capacity to pay | 26.7% | Not catastrophic |
| Discretionary budget (SDG 3.8.2) | 55.7% | Catastrophic |
Societal poverty line for this household: 228,125 per month. Discretionary budget: 71,875. Out-of-pocket spending does not move this household from above to below the societal poverty line.
Related guide: Measuring Financial Protection: Catastrophic and Impoverishing Health Expenditure Explained
How it works
- Budget share: OOP ÷ total consumption, compared with the threshold (10% and 25% are common).
- Capacity to pay: OOP ÷ (total consumption − subsistence spending), often compared with 40%.
- Discretionary budget: OOP ÷ (total consumption − societal poverty line), compared with 40% in the revised SDG indicator 3.8.2. The household's societal poverty line is the per-person daily line × household size × 365/12 days.
- Impoverishing: consumption is at or above the poverty line before OOP spending and below it after.
The UN metadata for SDG 3.8.2 (updated March 2026) defines the societal poverty line, in 2017 purchasing power parities, as the greater of US$2.15 a day and US$1.15 plus half of median consumption or income excluding out-of-pocket health spending. Convert it to your currency and year before entering it here.
This calculator shows how the definitions work for one household. National estimates need representative household survey data, survey weights and consistent recall periods. See our guide tomeasuring financial protection for sources and pitfalls.
Need this done properly?
This tool shows the method. For decision-grade evidence we build locally adapted, independently checked analyses with every input traced to a source.