International data sources
The following is a brief overview of available (and almost all web-based) resources for health- and well-being-related data for European and other countries.
| Name | Source | Description | Contents | Coverage | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas of Health in Europe (2008) | WHO Regional Office for Europe |
Statistical atlas of 'key health figures for the WHO European Region'. (Note that 2008 is the most recent report). |
Uses data taken principally from the European Health For All Database (HFA-DB) (see below), and thus contains a similar type of data. The data are arranged within the following chapters: demography (population, births, abortions), life & death (life expectancy, all-cause and cause-specific mortality), diseases, lifestyle & environment (smoking, alcohol, food-borne disease, home & work accidents), healthcare. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Paper report, but .pdf version available to download |
| Demographic Yearbook System | United Nations | Annual (long-running) U.N. publication of basic population & demographic related statistics | Set of tables grouped within these headings: population, fertility, foetal mortality, infant & maternal mortality, general mortality, 'nuptiality', divorce. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | On-line database. Note that all U.N. statistical databases are listed on the UN statistical databases list web page |
| ECHI (European Community Health Indicators) project | European Community (EC)-funded collaborative project | EC-funded study to develop a 'coherent set of European Community Health Indicators' | Total of 88 indicators grouped under the following headings: Demographic and socio-economic factors; Health status; Determinants of health; Health interventions (health services & health promotion). | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Data can be extracted/ downloaded via the ECHI data tool. |
| ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) | Collaborative project (51 countries) co-ordinated by the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN) | Project aimed at studying adolescent substance use in Europe | Project has collected comparable data on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Apart from downloadable reports, there is an online database ('Key result generator') |
|
European Health For All Database (HFA-DB) NB Note that a Scottish version of this database is available from the ScotPHO website - see the Scotland and European Health for All (HfA) Database |
WHO Regional Office for Europe | National-level database with large array of health & health-related data | Contains data on about 600 health indicators, grouped within the following domains: demographic & socio-economic indicators (e.g. population, births, deaths, unemployment); mortality (life expectancy, disability-adjusted life expectancy (DALE), infant mortality, neonatal mortality, cause-specific death rates); morbidity, disability & hospital discharges (incidence, prevalence & hospital discharges for various conditions); lifestyles (smoking, alcohol, road traffic accidents, diet); environment (food-borne diseases, occupational disease, work-related accidents); healthcare resources; healthcare utilisation & expenditure; maternal & child health (e.g. abortions, live births, immunisation). | National only: over 50 Member States of WHO European Region, including UK but not Scotland | On-line database, plus downloadable off-line version |
| European Health Interview & Health Examination Surveys Database | EC-funded collaboration | Website-based inventory of nationally and internationally administered health surveys in EU Member States and elsewhere | Covers 2 types of health surveys: Health Interview Surveys (HIS) and Health Examination Surveys (HES). Allows comparison of questions, methodologies etc. | National only (includes data for Scotland) | Website |
| European Detailed Mortality Database | WHO Regional Office for Europe | Online database allowing 'flexible and user-friendly access' to European mortality data at the 3-character ICD code level | This system supplements the (not-to-be-confused-with) European Mortality Database (MDB) [see entry below], which provides mortality data 'only for predefined, aggregated causes of death'. This more detailed database allows two types of analysis: comparisons between various causes of death in one selected country; and comparisons between countries for groups of selected causes. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Online system |
| European Hospital Morbidity Database | WHO Regional Office for Europe | Online database containing hospital discharge data by ICD-defined diagnosis, age and sex for European countries | Online system allows two types of data interrogation: comparisons between various diseases in one selected country; and comparisons between countries for groups of selected diseases. Includes information on hospital in-patient admission rates, average length of stay and day-cases. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Online system |
| European Mortality Database (MDB) | WHO Regional Office for Europe | Mortality data supplement to the European Health For All Database (HFA-DB) | Data on 67 causes of death by age and sex | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Online system, a version of which can be downloaded |
| Eurostat website | European Commission/ Eurostat | Website of Eurostat - the statistical arm of the European Commission | Website includes a vast range of statistical information relating to EC member states. This includes regional data from a specific regional database (see next entry below), some of which is included within their series of annual regional yearbooks (see entry further below). | National and regional | Website |
| Eurostat regional database |
European Commission/ Eurostat |
Regional statistics from Eurostat, available free of charge on-line (previously known as the REGIO database) |
Large volume of regional data covering topics such as demographics (population, population change (births, deaths, births by age of mother, infant mortality)), economic statistics (regional GDP, employment, household income), education, environment, migration, health (mortality, healthcare resources), transport and labour market (economically active, employment/unemployment). |
Regions (defined as NUTS areas) |
Online database |
| Eurostat regional yearbook |
European Commission/ Eurostat |
Annual Eurostat publication of regional statistics |
Examines regional differences under 15 headings including: population, labour market, economy, health (mortality, healthcare resources), tourism. |
Regions (NUTS areas) | Paper publication, but which is available free of charge as a .pdf file. Data from the publication are also available to download as Excel files |
|
EU-funded collaboration |
EURO-URHIS was an EU funded multi-centre project to create comparable health & wellbeing related profiles (based on existing data, and newly collected adult and child survey data) for cities across Europe. The profiles were published in 2012. | Website with set of downloadable .pdf files | City-level | Website | |
|
EU-SILC: European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions |
EU-funded survey | A project 'aiming at collecting timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal multidimensional microdata on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions' | Website with instructions on how to access the data | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) |
Website |
| WHO |
Part of WHO's website, and which provides 'theme pages' and data/ analyses 'on global health priorities'. |
Includes an online data repository to access data for specific indicators and countries. |
National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) |
Website and online system | |
| WHO |
An 'essential tool for assessing and monitoring the health situation and trends related to alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm, and policy responses in countries' |
Provides access to a range of alcohol-related information including alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm, and policy responses in countries. |
National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) |
Website and online data system | |
| Human Mortality Database | Collaborative project between University of California (USA) and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany) | A online database created 'to provide detailed (historical) mortality and population data to researchers, students, journalists, policy analysts, and others interested in the history of human longevity'. | Historical mortality and life expected related data (births, deaths, population, life tables, life expectancy) for more than 35 countries | National only (includes data for Scotland) | Website from which data can be downloaded |
| Links to European Health Indicator Databases | WHO | Links to a small number of European national web sites which incorporate online databases (many similar to WHO's Health for All database (see above), but which may also contain regional data) | Set of links | n/a | Web page |
| National and International Data Sources and Links | United Nations | Page of U.N. website with links to many countries' national statistics pages | Set of links | n/a | Web page |
| OECD Health Statistics 2016 | OECD | Comparative analysis of data for 30 OECD countries | Data arranged in domains including: health status (morbidity, mortality), healthcare resources, healthcare utilisation, expenditure on health, healthcare financing, social protection, pharmaceutical market, non-medical determinants of health (lifestyles & behaviour: food, alcohol, tobacco, BMI), demographic references, economic references. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Online database |
| OECD Society at a Glance - OECD social indicators | OECD | Large report analysing (and allowing access to) a wide range of 'social' indicators for all OECD countries | Data topics include: self-sufficiency (e.g. employment, education); equity (e.g. income inequality, poverty, social spending), health (e.g. life expectancy) and social cohesion (e.g. life & work satisfaction, crime). | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Online report |
| Oral Health Country/area Profile Programme (CAPP) | WHO Headquarters Geneva - Oral Health Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre, Malmo University, Sweden | Presents global information on dental diseases and oral health services | Databases include: oral health profiles by country and WHO region; significant caries index; systemic and oral health; oral diseases and related factors; tobacco and oral diseases. | National only | Website |
| Population Information Network (POPIN) | United Nations | 'Portal' to various U.N. web sites and resources, including some of those described within this table | Links to databases, publications and web sites. | n/a | Website |
| Scotland and European Health for All (HfA) Database | ScotPHO and WHO Regional Office for Europe | See note to European HfA database above. | See note to European HfA database above. This contains the same data within the same data system but with comparative figures for Scotland. | Scotland plus over 50 Member States of WHO European Region, including UK | On-line database plus downloadable off-line version. Also briefing notes interpreting the key findings for Scotland |
| Tobacco Control Database | WHO Regional Office for Europe | Database containing 'data on smoking prevalence and various aspects of tobacco control policies in WHO European Member States. It provides standardised information to track and assess the tobacco-related situation within and across countries in the region' | Country profiles, or country comparison tables can be created containing indicators such as smoking prevalence, smoking attributable deaths & years lost, taxation, licensing, policy and more. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Website |
| UNECE statistical database | UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) | UNECE database of national-level economic, gender and transport statistics | Database containing 'internationally comparable' data for countries in Europe, North America and Central Asia. Data are grouped within three very broad themes of 'economic', 'gender' and 'transport' statistics. However, the 'gender' heading includes data on population, households, education, health, mortality, and crime & violence. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Online database |
| Urban Audit cities data | EC DG-REGIO (Directorate General for Regional Policy of European Commission), Eurostat | Selection of Eurostat indicators for selected towns & cities, so-called 'kernels', and larger urban zones. | Nine Domains: demography (age, gender & nationality, household), social aspects (housing, health and crime), economic aspects (employment and income), civic involvement (elections and local administration), training & education (education levels), environment (climate, air quality, water and waste), travel & transport (travel to work, accidents), 'information society' (ICT use & ICT sector), culture & recreation (cultural activities and tourism sector). | European cities and associated geographies (258 cities in all) | Online database |
| WHO Mortality Database - access to data files | WHO | Provides access to 'raw' mortality data files. | Access (but not in a user-friendly format) to data files previously available through the (now defunct) WHOSIS system. | National only (includes data for Scotland) |
Website with access to raw data |
| World Income Inequality Database (WIID) | UNU-WIDER (United Nations university - World Institute for Development Economics Research) | WIID 'collects and stores information on income inequality for developed, developing, and transition countries' | A wide range of income inequality related measures are available in a downloadable database. Supporting documentation is also available. | National only (and no separate data for Scotland (only UK)) | Downloadable database |
| World Population Prospects Population Database | United Nations | Population related data, with projections to the year 2050 | Population by age & sex, growth rate, birth & death rates, life expectancy, migration, dependency ration, infant mortality. | National only | Online database |
Page updates:
- The last major update of this page was completed in November 2016.
- The next review is due to be carried out by end November 2017.