The 2021 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development highlights some of Australia’s key health outcomes.
The Health at a Glance report, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provides a summary of key health statistics about Australia and other member countries.
The new report, published earlier this month, highlights some key health statistics on a wide range of health topics. For example, the report found that the COVID-19 pandemic affected Australians in different ways:
- The proportion of people reporting depression or symptoms of depression nearly tripled to 28% in early 2020, compared to 10% the previous year.
- The rise in teleconsultations helped make up a drop in face-to-face GP consultations, which fell by 40% in May 2020 compared to May 2019.
- Access to cancer screening services temporarily worsened during the pandemic, with mammograms falling 20% for women aged 50-69 between January and September 2020, compared to the same period in 2018.
Beyond the effects of COVID, the report also found that:
- Deaths from ambient particulate matter pollution in Australia are among the lowest, compared to other OECD countries.
- Australia lags behind other OECD countries in major indicators for primary care safety and quality, reflected by a relative high number of antibiotics prescribed (32.2 daily dose per 1,000 people) and a high number of avoidable COPD admissions (300 per 100,000 people).
To read the highlights for Australia, see this link: Health at a Glance 2021: Highlights for Australia (oecd.org)
To read the full report, see this link: Health at a Glance 2021 : OECD Indicators | Health at a Glance | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org)
To learn more about the OECD, go to: About the OECD – OECD