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Alcohol consumption in Austria high

The Local Austria
The Local Austria - [email protected]
Alcohol consumption in Austria high
A doctor hands over a prescription. File photo: APA/ HELMUT FOHRINGER

Austria spends an above average amount on health care, according to statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - but Austrians consume more alcohol than nearly all other OECD countries.

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Total health spending accounted for 11.1 percent of GDP in Austria in 2012, almost two percent higher than the OECD average of 9.3 percent.

The United States spends the most on health as a share of its economy, with 16.9 percent of its GDP allocated to health in 2012, followed by the Netherlands (11.8 percent), France (11.6 percent), Switzerland (11.4 percent) and Germany (11.3 percent).

Only Estonia has a higher alcohol consumption per adult than Austria - where 12.2 litres of alcohol per adult was consumed in 2011, compared with an OECD average of nine litres.

The smoking rate among adults in Austria was 23.2 percent in 2006 (latest year available), above the OECD average of 21.0 percent in 2012.

However life expectancy in Austria in 2012 was 81 years, almost one year higher than the OECD average of 80.2 years.

The obesity rate among adults in Austria, based on self-reported height and weight, was 12.4 percent in 2006, up from 9.1 percent in 1999.

This was lower than in Germany (14.7 percent in 2009) and many other OECD countries, but the OECD warned that the growing prevalence of obesity foreshadows an increase in diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, and higher health care costs in the future.

In Austria, 76 percent of health spending was funded by public sources in 2012, slightly more than the average of 72 percent in OECD countries. The growth rate in health spending slowed down during the economic crisis, but started to increase by three percent in 2012. 





 

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