Long covid to cost OECD member countries over €115bn a year for a decade, review says

Across the OECD it is estimated some 75 million people on average had long covid in 2021. File photo: Alamy/PA

The OECD has estimated long covid could cost Europe and other member countries over €115bn every year for the next 10 years.

Long covid “continues to cast a long shadow more than five years after the pandemic struck”, the OECD said after calling for improvements in patient care. Direct medical costs and indirect economic costs will “weigh heavily” on EU and OECD economies through to 2035, the OECD estimated.

It is not known exactly how many people had or have long covid in Ireland. A HSE study in the east of the country estimated as many as 16% of the population were affected in the early waves.

Across the OECD it is estimated some 75 million people on average had long covid in 2021. This OECD review, published on Wednesday, estimates losses for the region equal to the health budget of Spain from direct medical or indirect economic costs of long covid.

It projects this could sit at 0.1% to 0.2% of GDP based on low or moderate levels of disease transmission amounting to “equivalent to $135 billion per annum”.

A key issue is how long covid often leaves people unable to work or unable to work full-time. “Studies suggest that long covid leads to employment disruption in around one in five affected workers,” it said.

Data from the NHS in England showed GP and primary care costs were around 40% higher for long covid patients than for people with covid who recovered quickly.

The review shares French data on long-term care also. This shows "sustained excess use of primary care, specialist consultations and laboratory tests for up to two years" for long covid. 

Long covid rates are monitored differently in most OECD countries. Half of the countries which took part in this report did not have a covid care pathway in 2025.

Ireland provided written input to the final report. It noted the HSE FADA survey of long covid patients. This was carried out in 2023 in the Dublin and Midlands region.

Over 4,600 people responded. Among them 2,338 reported ever having long covid symptoms. This group included 424 people who were clinically diagnosed by a doctor.

The HSE then “estimated that 16% of the population sampled ever experienced symptoms of long covid. This reduced with later variants".

Surveys and studies were also used by nine other countries including Australia and France. In Sweden, the review said: "Since the data come from hospitals and do not capture primary care codes, the majority of patients with long covid are not counted." 

OECD recommendations

The OECD advised better access to diagnosis, treatment and healthcare for patients as well as improved social welfare supports.

Overall, it also advised “a co-ordinated and coherent approach to tackling long covid would also help countries to prepare for future pandemics”.

The review also identified gaps in training for healthcare workers on long covid across the region. It is now developing a free online course for people working in primary care.  This is expected to offer a chance to boost long covid supports.

The review “Addressing the Costs and Care for Long COVID The Long Shadow of the Pandemic” is on the OECD website.

• Niamh Griffin is the Irish Examiner health correspondent