Health spending has started to rise again after stagnating or even falling in many OECD countries during the crisis. But the pace of growth remains well below pre-crisis rates, especially in Europe, according to OECD Health Statistics 2014.

Several OECD countries have published their plans for the development of a future bioeconomy, in which bio-based materials and production techniques will contribute significantly to economic and environmental sustainability. The case for support for bio-based chemicals and plastics therefore warrants serious attention.

Improving labour market participation of people with mental health problems requires well-integrated policies and services across the education, employment, health and social sectors. This paper provides examples of policy initiatives from 10 OECD countries for integrated services.

Dementia is increasing in prevalence, and to date has no cure or treatment. One element in improving this situation is using and sharing data more widely to increase the power of research. Further, moving beyond established medical data into big data offers the potential to tap into routinely collected data from both within and outside the health system.

The current policy approach to tackling dementia is socially and economically unsustainable, according to a new OECD report. Countries need to take action now to improve the lives of people living with dementia and their carers, prioritise public research on dementia, and improve the incentives for private investment in dementia innovation.

OECD insights blog: Francesca Colombo, Head of the OECD Health Division, discusses the issues related to health systems and an ageing population.

There’s a quiet revolution afoot: health data are increasingly collected, stored and used in digital form.

Austria needs to do more to help people with mental health problems find a job or stay in the workplace, according to a new OECD report. A more comprehensive approach would help employees and firms alike: mental health issues are estimated to cost the Austrian economy around 3.6% of GDP every year in lost productivity, health care and out-of-work benefits.

Australia should improve the integration of care across the patient pathway to prepare for a rise in chronic disease and make the health system less complex for patients, according to a new OECD report.

The recent mental health reform is an important step towards better services for people with mental ill-health, but Australia needs to do more to help people with mild to moderate mental health issues at and into work, according to a new OECD report.

In the ten years since the introduction of Seguro Popular, some 50 million Mexicans previously at risk of unaffordable health care bills now have access to health insurance. The OECD Review of Health Systems: Mexico 2016 finds that the share of the population exposed to unaffordable or impoverishing health care costs has fallen from 3.3% to 0.8% of the population in the past decade.

Outdoor air pollution could cause 6 to 9 million premature deaths a year by 2060 and cost 1% of global GDP – around USD 2.6 trillion annually – as a result of sick days, medical bills and reduced agricultural output, unless action is taken, according to a new OECD report.

Responses from the third wave of the OECD Health System Characteristics Survey are available online, providing access to the most recent information on key institutional characteristics of health systems of OECD countries and key partner and accession countries.

The High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, chaired by H.E. François Hollande and H.E. Jacob Zuma, today delivered its final report and recommendations to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Latvia has successfully consolidated its hospital sector and strengthened primary care since the financial crisis. But persistent barriers to accessing high quality care need to be removed, according to a new OECD report.

The G7 Health Ministers meeting in Kobe on 11-12 September welcomed OECD work on the linkages between Universal Health Coverage and healthy ageing, and recognised OECD work on access to innovative health treatments. The OECD will deliver initial findings following the French-led initiative to identify innovative options to pay for new medicines and high-cost treatments at the 17 January 2016 OECD Health Ministers meeting.

OECD Health Ministers meeting in Paris have underlined their commitment to tackling important challenges facing health systems around the world. E.g. improving the delivery of high-quality care for all; addressing how to pay for effective health technologies; measuring health system performance on the basis of what it delivers to people, as well as making better use of health data; and making health systems more people-centred.

Read about our groundbreaking report on inequality - In it Together: Why less inequality benefits all - as well as our recent work on tackling harmful alcohol use. You can also find here all our work on employment, migration, health and social policy over the last few months, as well as highlights from this summer's OECD Forum which addressed the theme "Investing in the future: people, planet, prosperity”.

Mental disorders represent a considerable disease burden, and have a significant impact on the lives of the OECD population, and account for considerable direct and indirect costs. This report argues that even in those OECD countries with a long history of deinstitutionalisation, there is still a long way to go to make community-based mental health care that achieves good outcomes for people with severe mental illness a reality.

Asia’s pension systems need modernising urgently to deliver secure, sustainable and adequate retirement incomes for today’s workers in the context of the rapid population ageing that will occur over the next two decades, according to a new OECD report.

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.

Australia’s labour market continues to perform well in comparison with other major developed countries. The unemployment rate, at 5.1% in May 2012, is among the lowest in the OECD.

Skills and educational development for inclusive and sustainable growth are becoming significant drivers in OECD countries.

Australia’s labour market reforms over the past 15 years have boosted employment and cut welfare benefit dependency.

Carbon taxes and emission trading systems are the most cost-effective means of reducing CO2 emissions, and should be at the centre of government efforts to tackle climate change,according to a new OECD study.

Slower growth in key markets like China and India is reducing momentum across the Australian economy, cutting into employment opportunities and putting more pressure on the government to ensure that public policy delivers optimal results for growth and job creation.

The world economy is still suffering from the strains of the longest crisis of modern times, and nowhere is this more evident than in the high unemployment numbers. In this OECD Observer Roundtable, we asked a cross-section of ministers: “What actions are you taking to create more and better jobs in your economy?”

Mr. Angel Gurría was in Brisbane to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit on 15-16 November. Prior to the Summit, the Secretary-General attended a G20 Finance Ministers Meeting, as well as L20 and B20 meetings.

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.

Australia should improve the integration of care across the patient pathway to prepare for a rise in chronic disease and make the health system less complex for patients, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD welcomes Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement at COP21 that Australia intends to ratify the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period, which sets mitigation targets and reporting requirements for 2013-2020.

The recent mental health reform is an important step towards better services for people with mental ill-health, but Australia needs to do more to help people with mild to moderate mental health issues at and into work, according to a new OECD report.

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.

Australia’s strong economy has helped drive a healthy job market. But to avoid a future shortage of labour as the population ages, further efforts are needed to help older women, indigenous Australians and mothers with young children into work, according to a new OECD report.

The city of Newcastle is fast emerging as a smart, liveable and sustainable city.

Australia has stepped up its enforcement of foreign bribery since 2012, when the OECD Working Group on Bribery last evaluated Australia’s implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, with seven convictions in two cases and 19 ongoing investigations.

Australia’s active global engagement on development and its focus on fragile small island states and disaster risk reduction are commendable. However successive cuts to the country’s aid budget since 2013 are impairing its efforts, according to the latest DAC Peer Review of Australia.

Resistance proportions for eight antibiotic-bacterium pairs in Australia have increased in recent years, from 7% in 2005 to 10% in 2015, and could go up to 12% by 2030, should current trends in antibiotic consumption, population and economic growth continue into the future. Resistance proportions in Australia were lower than the OECD average in 2015 (17%).

Australia has made some progress replacing coal with natural gas and renewables in electricity generation yet remains one of the most carbon-intensive OECD countries and one of the few where greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use and forestry) have risen in the past decade. The country will fall short of its 2030 emissions target without a major effort to move to a low-carbon model, according to a new OECD report.

About 36% of Australian jobs face a significant or high risk of automation. While this is less than the OECD average (46%), it means that a sizeable share of adults will need to upskill or retrain to meet the needs of future jobs.

Unemployment Rate in India increased to 7.80 percent in February from 7.20 percent in January of 2020. Unemployment Rate in India averaged 7.34 percent from 2018 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 8.20 percent in August of 2019 and a record low of 6.70 percent in November of 2018. In India, the unemployment rate is estimated by directly interviewing a large sample of randomly selected households. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Consumer Pyramids panel of households includes over 174,405 households including over 522,000 members who are over 15 years old. This page provides - India Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Unemployment Rate in Angola increased to 31.80 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 30.10 percent in the third quarter of 2019. Unemployment Rate in Angola averaged 26.68 percent from 2005 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005 and a record low of 19.90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016. In Angola, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides - Angola Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Unemployment Rate in Turkey increased to 13.80 percent in January from 13.70 percent in December of 2019. Unemployment Rate in Turkey averaged 10.38 percent from 2005 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 14.80 percent in February of 2009 and a record low of 7.30 percent in June of 2012. In Turkey, 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 - Turkey Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Unemployment Rate in Australia increased to 5.20 percent in March from 5.10 percent in February of 2020. Unemployment Rate in Australia averaged 6.80 percent from 1978 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 11.20 percent in December of 1992 and a record low of 4 percent in February of 2008. In Australia, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides - Australia Unemployment Rate at 5.8% in December - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Unemployment Rate in Netherlands remained unchanged at 2.90 percent in March from 2.90 percent in February of 2020. Unemployment Rate in Netherlands averaged 5.21 percent from 2003 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 7.90 percent in February of 2014 and a record low of 2.90 percent in February of 2020. In Netherlands, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides - Netherlands Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Unemployment Rate in South Korea increased to 3.80 percent in March from 3.30 percent in February of 2020. Unemployment Rate in South Korea averaged 3.65 percent from 1999 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 7.10 percent in June of 1999 and a record low of 3 percent in September of 2002. In South Korea, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides - South Korea Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Unemployment Rate in China decreased to 5.90 percent in March from 6.20 percent in February of 2020. Unemployment Rate in China averaged 4.42 percent from 2002 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 6.20 percent in February of 2020 and a record low of 3.90 percent in September of 2002. In China, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides - China Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Unemployment Rate in the United Kingdom increased to 4 percent in February from 3.90 percent in January of 2020. Unemployment Rate in the United Kingdom averaged 6.93 percent from 1971 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 12 percent in February of 1984 and a record low of 3.40 percent in November of 1973. In the United Kingdom, 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 - United Kingdom Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

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.

Unemployment Rate in Japan increased to 2.50 percent in March from 2.40 percent in February of 2020. Unemployment Rate in Japan averaged 2.72 percent from 1953 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 5.50 percent in June of 2002 and a record low of 1 percent in November of 1968. In Japan, 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 - Japan Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.