Provincial and territorial governments will spend almost $3,000 on each person to pay for health care in 2006-07, a report predicts.

That's a 4.5 per cent increase from the previous year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) said Wednesday in a report on preliminary government health spending estimates.

The per capita average of $2,931 ranges from a high of $3,315 in Alberta to a low of $2,581 in Quebec.

The per capita average in 2005-06 was $2,806.

Total health-care spending by provincial and territorial governments will increase 5.7 per cent to $96 billion in 2006-07, up from about $90.9 billion in 2005-06 and $85.3 billion in the 2004-05 fiscal year. Government fiscal years end March 31.

Health-care spending will account for 38.6 cents of every dollar provincial and territorial governments spend. That's a very slight drop from previous years, and consistent with other CIHI statistics showing that the rate of increase in health spending is slowing.

The estimated annual increase for 2006–07 is 5.7 per cent, down from 6.5 per cent in 2005–06 and below the average annual growth rate of seven per cent between 2001–02 and 2004–05.

The report said provincial and territorial health spending will average 6.6 per cent of provincial gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the value of goods and services produced in the province.

New Brunswick will spend the highest proportion of its provincial GDP, nine per cent, while Alberta will spend the lowest, 4.6 per cent.

Hospitals account for 41.5 per cent of spending, doctors 19.9 per cent and drugs 8.5 per cent.

CIHI, an independent group set up by the federal, provincial and territorial governments, collects information on Canadian health and health care.