Press release: Four-fold difference in antibiotic consumption across the European Region – new WHO report

A new report entitled “Antibiotic use in Eastern Europe: a cross-national database study in coordination with the WHO Regional Office for Europe” was published in "The Lancet Infectious Diseases" on 20 March 2014.

The report released data on total antibiotic consumption for countries outside the European Union (EU). The data (from 2011) indicate an almost fourfold difference between the lowest and the highest antibiotic users among 42 countries and regions in the WHO European Region (within and outside the EU), and provide a clear picture of the use of different groups of antibiotics.