People in OECD countries are healthier than ever before, as shown by longer life expectancy and lower mortality for diseases such as cancer. At the same time, total spending on health care now absorbs over 9% of GDP on average in the OECD. Achieving value for money in the health care sector is an important objective in all OECD countries.

The book takes an in-depth look at health care in OECD countries today. What is the status of people’s health? How do we measure health outcomes? How do we assess the efficiency of health care systems? How are health policies and institutions linked with the performance of health care systems? The chapters explore the answers to such questions. They cover: trends in health care outcomes and spending; ways of assessing efficiency; new indicators of health care policies and institutions; and the characteristics and performance of health care systems.