Asia-Pacific countries should strengthen their health systems and sharply increase spending to deliver effective universal coverage in order to meet the changing needs of their fast ageing populations, according to a new OECD report.

Better public health and prevention policies as well as more effective health care could save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of euros each year in Europe, according to a new joint OECD/European Commission report.

The proliferation of high-cost medicines and rising drug prices are increasing pressures on public health spending and calling into question the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing strategies.

This High-Level Forum will be held at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris on 16 January 2017. Issues include: Harnessing digital technology and data to create proactive, people-centred systems; Overcoming technical, institutional and cultural challenges; Caring for people with complex needs; The importance of measuring what matters to people and to patients, and The role of international and cross-sector collaboration.

Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) are commonly used to convert national currencies to a common unit. The main novel feature in the 2017 report is the collection of comparable and output-based prices for hospital services that can then be applied to matching health accounts expenditure data so as to derive consistent price and volume comparisons of health and hospital goods and services consumed.

There is now strong evidence that microbiomes play an important role in human health, as there are clear linkages to many major non-communicable diseases. This report assesses the key policy challenges for innovation in the microbiome. It argues that if such a promising scientific field is to lead to innovative applications, policies on science and innovation must be improved in five areas.

This new series of OECD Reviews of Public Health provide in-depth analysis and policy recommendations to strengthen priority areas of countries’ public health systems, highlighting best practice examples that allow learning from shared experiences, and the spreading of innovative approaches.

Statistics on biotechnology firms, biotechnology R&D (including public sector expenditures), biotech applications and patents.

Healthier lifestyles, higher incomes and better education have all contributed to boost life expectancy in recent decades. Better health care has also helped, according to a new OECD report.

OECD Health Statistics 2017 is the most comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health and health systems across OECD countries. All datasets have been updated on 10 November 2017, including the datasets for Pharmaceutical Market and Health Care Quality Indicators.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing health and economic threat requiring multipronged responses. The OECD provides a forum for discussion and provide countries with the evidence to implement effective and cost-effective policies to tackle AMR, promote effective use of antimicrobials and incentivise research and development in the antibiotic sector.

This document revises the OECD's statistical definition of biotechnology, which had last been reviewed in 2008, and proposes the adoption of a statistical definition of nanotechnology in the same format.

This one-pager note presents key findings for Australia from Society at a Glance 2011 - OECD Social indicators. This 2011 publication also provides a special chapter on unpaid work across the OECD.

How can government policies move towards increasing agricultural innovation and improving productivity? This OECD conference shared case studies and ideas from Europe, China, United States, India, Africa, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

Australia’s enforcement of its foreign bribery laws has been extremely low, with just a single case leading to prosecutions out of 28 referrals in 13 years. Cases may have been closed prematurely. Australia must vigorously pursue foreign bribery allegations.

Australia delivered USD 5.44 billion in official development assistance (ODA) last year, or 0.36% of its gross national income. It is the eighth most generous country in the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which groups the world’s major donors. Australia’s goal is to reach 0.5% of GNI by 2017 – a goal the DAC encourages it to follow through on, given its good track record and relatively strong economy.

Global Value Chains (GVCs) are a dominant feature of the world economy that impact growth, jobs and development, but numerous challenges remain to ensure that all countries and all firms have the opportunity to participate and benefit.

According to a new OECD report, variation in rates of health care activity between geographic areas within a country may be a cause for concern. Wide variation suggests that whether or not patients receive a particular health service depends on the region where they live within a country.

This publication highlights new evidence on policies to support job creation, bringing together the latest research on labour market, entrepreneurship and local economic development policy to help governments support job creation in the recovery. It also includes a set of country pages featuring, among other things, new data on skills supply and demand at the level of smaller OECD regions (TL3).

In a boost for international efforts to strengthen co-operation against offshore tax evasion, seven new countries have joined the agreement to exchange information automatically under the OECD/G20 standard.

Specific country notes have been prepared using data from the database OECD Health Statistics 2015, July 2015 version. The notes are available in PDF format.

The Australian health system is a complex mix of federal and state government funding and responsibility, making it difficult for patients to navigate. Despite its complexity, Australia’s universal health system achieves good results relatively efficiently.

Australia should provide early access to more intensive employment services for disadvantaged laid-off workers to help them find a new job more quickly, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Australia, to be published at 00.01 am on Friday, 3 March 2017 AEDT (13.01, GMT; 14:01 Paris time Thursday), looks at Australia’s current macroeconomic situation, as well as the steps that can be taken to ensure stronger and more inclusive growth in the future. The Survey’s two in-depth chapters focus on innovation.

How can we build a global economy driven by innovation when half the population is missing out on the action? The short answer is, we can’t.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) published today the first 10 outcomes of a new and enhanced peer review process aimed at assessing compliance with international standards for the exchange of information on request between tax authorities.

These graphs offer a brief summary of the commodity trade situation in the country.

Economic growth has been resilient, exports and investment will support the economy and wage growth and price inflation will gradually pick up

The most attractive OECD countries for highly qualified potential immigrants are Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada, in part because of favourable admission and stay conditions.

Australia's tax-to-GDP ratio was 27.8% in 2016* (latest available data), below the OECD average (34.2%) by 6.4 percentage points, and above the LAC and Africa (21)* averages (22.8% and 18.2%, respectively).

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Australia increased by 0.9 percentage points from 27.6% in 2016 to 28.5% in 2017 (latest year available). The corresponding figures for the OECD average were a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from 34.4% to 34.2% over the same period.

Unemployment Rate in Mexico decreased to 2.90 percent in March from 3.60 percent in February of 2020. Unemployment Rate in Mexico averaged 3.74 percent from 1994 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 6.42 percent in September of 2009 and a record low of 2.22 percent in March of 1997. In Mexico, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides the latest reported value for - Mexico Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

ICU Beds in Ukraine averaged 863.93 per 100K people from 1980 until 2014, reaching an all time high of 1065.73 per 100K people in December of 1991 and a record low of 613.31 per 100K people in December of 2014. This page includes a chart with historical data for Ukraine ICU Beds.

The transportation sub-index of the CPI basket in South Africa decreased to 115.50 points in March of 2020 from 116.30 points in February of 2020. CPI Transportation in South Africa averaged 101.59 points from 2008 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 116.90 points in November of 2016 and a record low of 81.70 points in January of 2008. This page provides - South Africa Cpi Transportation- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The transportation sub-index of the CPI basket in Japan decreased to 99.90 points in March of 2020 from 100.10 points in February of 2020. CPI Transportation in Japan averaged 90.61 points from 1970 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 104.40 points in August of 2008 and a record low of 38.50 points in January of 1970. This page provides - Japan Cpi Transportation- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The transportation sub-index of the CPI basket in Mexico decreased to 95 points in April of 2020 from 102.25 points in March of 2020. CPI Transportation in Mexico averaged 43.80 points from 1981 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 105.61 points in January of 2020 and a record low of 0.06 points in January of 1981. This page provides - Mexico Cpi Transportation- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

On the occasion of his visit, Angel Gurría presented the brochure "Policies for a revitalisation of Japan" and met with government and business representatives.

OECD Secretary-General will visit Japan on 22-24 April to launch the Economic Survey of Japan. During his stay in Tokyo, Mr. Gurría will also meet government officials and representatives from the business and labour communities amongst others.

Cities can generate growth and jobs while becoming greener – this is the message of the OECD’s new Green Growth in Cities report. Drawing on case studies of Paris, Chicago, Kitakyushu and Stockholm, the report identifies green policies that can respond to urban growth priorities and suggests how to implement and finance them.

Two rounds of the Survey of Adult Skills are under way: Round 1 (2008-13) with 24 participating countries, whose results were released in October 2013, and Round 2 (2012-16) with 9 participating countries, whose results will be released in 2016. A third round is scheduled to begin in May 2014.

Japan has good health outcomes and has rapidly increased its spending on health care in recent years. It now needs to focus on improving efficiency of its health system in order to continue delivering high-quality care while containing costs, according to a new OECD report.

An ecosystem assessment is a social process through which the findings of science concerning the causes of ecosystem change, their consequences for human well-bring, and the management and policy options are evaluated. The main objective of the paper is to draw insights from experience in the UK, Japan, Spain and Portugal of the added value to policy making of undertaking national level ecosystem assessments.

The Japan-OECD Policy Forum on Urban Development and Green Growth will address cities’ unique role in creating synergies between environmental and economic objectives to advance green growth. Asian cities in particular are at the centre of this challenge. This event is organised as a commemorative event for the 50th Anniversary of Japan's Accession to the OECD.

Elderly individuals with complex, chronic diseases need continuous and tailored care to maintain their health and maximise their ability to participate in society. Japan must change the way it delivers health services for older citizens by strengthening its specialist primary care and making mental health care services more widely available, according to a new OECD report.

While the outlook for many OECD countries remains subdued, Emerging Asia is set for healthy growth over the medium term. Annual GDP growth for the ASEAN -10, China and India is forecast to average 6.5% over 2015-19. Growth momentum remains robust in the 10 ASEAN countries, with economic growth averaging 5.6% over 2015-19.

This publication highlights new evidence on policies to support job creation, bringing together the latest research on labour market, entrepreneurship and local economic development policy to help governments support job creation in the recovery. It also includes a set of country pages featuring, among other things, new data on skills supply and demand at the level of smaller OECD regions (TL3).

Highest life expectancy in Japan has been attained through a series of public health actions and universal health coverage.

The global economy continues to run at low speed and many countries, particularly in Europe, seem unable to overcome the legacies of the crisis. With high unemployment, high inequality and low trust still weighing heavily, it is imperative to swiftly implement reforms that boost demand and employment and raise potential growth.