Health at a Glance: Europe 2012
This second edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents a set of key indicators of health status, determinants of health, health care resources and activities, quality of care, health expenditure and financing in 35 European countries, including the 27 European Union member states, 5 candidate countries and 3 EFTA countries. The selection of indicators is based largely on the European Community Health Indicators (ECHI) shortlist, a set of indicators that has been developed to guide the reporting of health statistics in the European Union. It is complemented by additional indicators on health expenditure and quality of care, building on the OECD expertise in these areas. Each indicator is presented in a user-friendly format, consisting of charts illustrating variations across countries and over time, a brief descriptive analysis highlighting the major findings conveyed by the data, and a methodological box on the definition of the indicator and any limitations in data comparability.
Financing of health care
All European countries use a mix of public and private financing to pay for health care. In some countries, public purchasing of health care is generally confined to the use of government revenues. In others where there is social insurance, public financing uses these social contributions, in addition to any general government revenues. Private financing of health care consists of payments by households (either as stand-alone payments or co-payments) as well as various forms of private health insurance intended to replace, complement or supplement publicly financed coverage. In addition, occupational health care may be directly provided by employers, and other health care benefits may be provided by charities and other non-government organisations.