PUTRAJAYA (Nov 10): Health inflation increased 3.0% in 2025 as compared to 1.3% in 2024, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

It said the increase was driven by the health services category, which recorded a significant rise of 4.4% as compared to 0.9% in 2024, which contributed by the Insurance connected with health expenditure class that increased by 9.1% in 2025 (2024: 0.0%).

The medicine category represented the largest weight, accounting for 38.9% of the health price index (HPI), recording an increase of 2.8% in 2025, compared with 2.2% in the previous year. 

“The increase was driven by the medicines expenditure class, which included the medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical preparations and herbal medicines and homeopathic products expenditure subclasses.

“Both subclasses recorded increases of 4.5% in 2025 as compared to 2.2% and 0.7% in 2024 respectively,” the DOSM said in a statement accompanying the annual health price index 2025 report released on Tuesday.

The report provided the HPI and health inflation, taking into account both treatment and prevention healthcare aspects comprising three categories, namely medicine, medical devices and health services at the national level.

The DOSM released the HPI for the first time, presenting detailed findings following the release of the preliminary report on Malaysian health price index 2025 in July 2026. The statistics measured changes in the prices of healthcare-related goods and services purchased by households. 

The development of the HPI is an initiative by the DOSM, in collaboration with relevant health-related agencies from both the public and private sectors and through the integration of data from various sources.

Meanwhile, the department said the medical devices category also increased 1.1% (2024: 0.6%), driven by the medical products expenditure class, up 1.3% (2024: 0.6%). 

The increase was contributed by the medical diagnostic products expenditure subclass, which recorded an increase of 1.6%, as compared to 0.3% in 2024.

The compilation of the Malaysian HPI incorporated health-related components from three groups in the consumer price index, namely the health group, the insurance and financial services group and the personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services group.

The HPI complemented the indicators of health-related inflation and helped the government, stakeholders and the public identify trends in the healthcare cost movements, thereby supporting more effective planning, implementation and monitoring in the healthcare sector.

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