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.
Pharmaceutical consumption
The consumption of pharmaceuticals has increased over the past decade not only in terms of expenditure (see Pharmaceutical expenditure), but also in terms of the volume or quantity of medicines consumed. This section reviews trends in the volume of consumption of three categories of pharmaceuticals: antibiotics, antidiabetics and antidepressants. Consumption of these medicines is measured through the defined daily dose (DDD) unit, as recommended by the WHO Collaborating Center for Drug Statistics (see the box on Definition and comparability).