Health at a Glance: Europe 2016
State of Health in the EU Cycle

This fourth edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents key indicators of health and health systems in the 28 EU countries, 5 candidate countries to the EU and 3 EFTA countries. This 2016 edition contains two main new features: two thematic chapters analyse the links between population health and labour market outcomes, and the important challenge of strengthening primary care systems in European countries; and a new chapter on the resilience, efficiency and sustainability of health systems in Europe, in order to align the content of this publication more closely with the 2014 European Commission Communication on effective, accessible and resilient health systems. This publication is the result of a renewed collaboration between the OECD and the European Commission under the broader "State of Health in the EU" initiative, designed to support EU member states in their evidence-based policy making.
Suicide
Suicide is a significant cause of death in many EU member states. Approximately 60 000 people committed suicides in 2013 across all EU countries. Suicide rates vary widely across countries, with the lowest rates in Southern European countries – Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Italy – as well as in the United Kingdom, and the highest rates in Lithuania, followed by Slovenia, Hungary and Latvia (). There is an eight-fold difference between Lithuania and Cyprus, the countries with the highest and lowest death rates from suicides. The high suicide rates in Lithuania are driven by exceptionally high rates among men, which are six times higher than among women. These very high rates of suicide are associated with a range of factors, including high levels of psychological and social insecurity, and high rates of addictions to alcohol and illegal drugs.
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