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A decade after the publication of results from the first round of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), its seminal assessment of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds, the OECD has conducted its first Survey of Adult Skills, which extends the assessment of skills to the entire adult population. The survey, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), focuses on skills – literacy, numeracy and problem solving – similar to those assessed in PISA; but the two studies use different assessment tasks, reflecting the different contexts in which 15-year-old students and older adults live. The surveys have complementary goals: PISA seeks to identify ways in which students can learn better, teachers can teach better, and schools can operate more effectively; the Survey of Adult Skills focuses on how adults develop their skills, how they use those skills, and what benefits they gain from using them. To this end, the Survey of Adult Skills collects information on how skills are used at home, in the workplace and in the community; how these skills are developed, maintained and lost over a lifetime; and how these skills are related to labour market participation, income, health, and social and political engagement.

This second edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents a set of key indicators of health and health systems in 35ÂEuropean countries, including the 27 European Union member states, 5 candidate countries and 3 EFTA countries. The selection of indicators is based largely on the European Community Health Indicators (ECHI) shortlist, a list of indicators that has been developed by the European Commission to guide the development and reporting of health statistics. It is complemented by additional indicators on health expenditure and quality of care, building on the OECD expertise in these areas. Contents: Introduction 12 Chapter 1. Health status 15 1.1. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy at birth 1.2. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy at age 65 1.3. Mortality from all causes 1.4. Mortality from heart disease and stroke 1.5. Mortality from cancer 1.6. Mortality from transport accidents 1.7. Suicide 1.8. Infant mortality 1.9. Infant health: Low birth weight 1.10. Self-reported health and disability 1.11. Incidence of selected communicable diseases 1.12. HIV/AIDS 1.13. Cancer incidence 1.14. Diabetes prevalence and incidence 1.15. Dementia prevalence 1.16. Asthma and COPD prevalence Chapter 2. Determinants of health 49 2.1. Smoking and alcohol consumption among children 2.2. Overweight and obesity among children 2.3. Fruit and vegetable consumption among children 2.4. Physical activity among children 2.5. Smoking among adults 2.6. Alcohol consumption among adults 2.7. Overweight and obesity among adults 2.8. Fruit and vegetable consumption among adults Chapter 3. Health care resources and activities 67 3.1. Medical doctors 3.2. Consultations with doctors 3.3. Nurses 3.4. Medical technologies: CT scanners and MRI units 3.5. Hospital beds 3.6. Hospital discharges 3.7. Average length of stay in hospitals 3.8. Cardiac procedures (coronary angioplasty) 3.9. Cataract surgeries 3.10. Hip and knee replacement 3.11. Pharmaceutical consumption 3.12. Unmet health care needs Chapter 4. Quality of care 93 Care for chronic conditions 4.1. Avoidable admissions: Respiratory diseases 4.2. Avoidable admissions: Uncontrolled diabetes Acute care 4.3. In-hospital mortality following acute myocardial infarction 4.4. In-hospital mortality following stroke Patient safety 4.5. Procedural or postoperative complications 4.6. Obstetric trauma Cancer care 4.7. Screening, survival and mortality for cervical cancer 4.8. Screening, survival and mortality for breast cancer 4.9. Screening, survival and mortality for colorectal cancer Care for communicable diseases 4.10. Childhood vaccination programmes 4.11. Influenza vaccination for older people Chapter 5. Health expenditure and financing 117 5.1. Coverage for health care 5.2. Health expenditure per capita 5.3. Health expenditure in relation to GDP 5.4. Health expenditure by function. 5.5. Pharmaceutical expenditure 5.6. Financing of health care 5.7. Trade in health services Bibliography 133 Annex A. Additional information on demographic and economic context 143 Most European countries have reduced tobacco consumption via public awareness campaigns, advertising bans and increased taxation. The percentage of adults who smoke daily is below 15% in Sweden and Iceland, from over 30% in 1980. At the other end of the scale, over 30% of adults in Greece smoke daily. Smoking rates continue to be high in Bulgaria, Ireland and Latvia (Figure 2.5.1). Alcohol consumption has also fallen in many European countries. Curbs on advertising, sales restrictions and taxation have all proven to be effective measures. Traditional wine-producing countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, have seen consumption per capita fall substantially since 1980. Alcohol consumption per adult rose significantly in a number of countries, including Cyprus, Finland and Ireland (Figure 2.6.1).This resource was contributed byThe National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

OECD. for influencing CSE than civic education classes (these factors are discussed in further detail in Chapter 4). Learning outside of the school such as home experiences, including political conversations with parents and keeping up with .

The majority of research infrastructures (RIs) are funded, managed, and operated within national systems. They mostly provide services to national research communities. As research budgets are limited, and governments and funding agencies need to support increasingly large and complex RIs and RI portfolios, Science Europe and the OECD Global Science Forum joined forces to analyse how to optimise their operation and use within a national context.

Large-scale catastrophic and smaller recurrent disasters generate considerable economic losses. Over the past thirty years, damages from major disasters have increased significantly. In the last ten years alone, both high-income and fast-growing middle-income economies have experienced an estimated 1.2 trillion US dollars in economic costs from disruptive shocks due to hazards such as storms or floods. The costs of disasters are often largely shouldered by governments, particularly where insurance coverage for these costs is limited. Often governments are not only responsible for the costs related to restoring public assets and services, but are also asked to provide financing for other explicit and implicit commitments made prior to a disaster. The costs that disasters impose on governments, and ultimately on taxpayers should be considered contingent liabilities or, when disasters lead to reductions in public revenues, contingent revenue losses. These expenses and revenue losses arise only if an uncertain event, such as a disaster, actually happens. Disaster-related contingent liabilities are one type of government contingent liability. This report presents the findings of a comparative study that assesses how effectively governments manage disaster-related contingent liabilities, and the potential fiscal risks arising from them, within public finance frameworks. The report documents and compares the policies and practices of a set of nine selected middle- and high-income economies focusing on their response to and plans for disasters from a public financial perspective. Economies were selected on the basis of their exposure to and regular experience of natural disasters, and with the aim of including economies of different sizes and fiscal capacity. Part 1 of the report first describes the economic impacts, and more specifically the fiscal impacts, arising from disasters in the selected economies. The nine detailed case studies are included as part 2 of the report.

WEO 2016 SR: Contribution to the IEA's 2016 World Energy Outlook Special Report on Energy and Air Pollution (IIASA Contract No. 16-106) - Around 6.5 million premature deaths each year can be attributed to air pollution - Energy production and use are by far the largest man-made sources of air pollutants - Technologies to tackle air pollution are well known Clean air is vital for good health. Yet despite growing recognition of this imperative, the problem of air pollution is far from solved in many countries, and the global health impacts risk intensifying in the decades to come. The scale of the public health crisis caused by air pollution and the importance of the energy sector to its resolution are the reasons why the IEA is focusing on this critical topic for the first time. Based on new data for pollutant emissions in 2015 and projections to 2040, this special report, the latest in the World Energy Outlook series, provides a global outlook for energy and air pollution as well as detailed profiles of key countries and regions: the United States, Mexico, the European Union, China, India, Southeast Asia and Africa. In a Clean Air Scenario, the report proposes a pragmatic and attainable strategy to reconcile the world's energy requirements with its need for cleaner air. Alongside the multiple benefits to human health, this strategy shows that resolving the world's air pollution problem can go hand-in-hand with progress towards other environmental and development goals.

WEO 2016 SR: Contribution to the IEA's 2016 World Energy Outlook Special Report on Energy and Air Pollution (IIASA Contract No. 16-106) - Around 6.5 million premature deaths each year can be attributed to air pollution - Energy production and use are by far the largest man-made sources of air pollutants - Technologies to tackle air pollution are well known Clean air is vital for good health. Yet despite growing recognition of this imperative, the problem of air pollution is far from solved in many countries, and the global health impacts risk intensifying in the decades to come. The scale of the public health crisis caused by air pollution and the importance of the energy sector to its resolution are the reasons why the IEA is focusing on this critical topic for the first time. Based on new data for pollutant emissions in 2015 and projections to 2040, this special report, the latest in the World Energy Outlook series, provides a global outlook for energy and air pollution as well as detailed profiles of key countries and regions: the United States, Mexico, the European Union, China, India, Southeast Asia and Africa. In a Clean Air Scenario, the report proposes a pragmatic and attainable strategy to reconcile the world's energy requirements with its need for cleaner air. Alongside the multiple benefits to human health, this strategy shows that resolving the world's air pollution problem can go hand-in-hand with progress towards other environmental and development goals.

In Colombia, the beginning of a new century has brought with it a palpable feeling of optimism. Colombians will need new and better skills to apply to new challenges and prospects. The past underperformance of Colombia's education system is both a cause and an effect of a system unable to provide high quality education to all. An "education revolution" has begun and progress is being made. Basic and secondary enrolment, quality and learning outcomes are trending upward. The government's main policy goals at the tertiary level focus on the key challenges: expanding enrolment and improving equity, increasing quality and relevance, and making governance and finance more responsive. To achieve these goals, policy makers and stakeholders must find ways to reach consensus, work together and overcome inertia. Colombia has drifted away from focusing exclusively on the needs of students, the graduates they become, and the society in which they live and work. Restoring the focus on how tertiary education can serve these needs is a good organizing principle for reform. The government developed a proposed reform of Law 30 - the main statute governing tertiary education - and vigorous national debate accompanied its dissemination. Opposition to for-profit education dominated the headlines, but, in the review team's view, other aspects of the proposed reform were and are more important. The dramatic increase in tertiary enrolment witnessed during the last decade has also resulted in a more equitable distribution of access to tertiary education. The goal of enrolling 50% of the age cohort is appropriate and achievable, but it implies new challenges for access and student finance policies. The tertiary system covers the full range of the Colombian economy's needs for skilled manpower, if not necessarily to an equal extent. The government has clear and well-founded plans and aspirations for future tertiary growth and development. The Colombian government and people are well aware that they need not only more, but also better and fairer, tertiary provision - growth in coverage must be accompanied by quality, relevance and equitable access. The Colombian system of propaedeutic cycles is a good step towards allowing students to progress up through the tertiary levels. Colombian tertiary institutions have considerable autonomy, which is valuable in many ways though limiting in others.

An international mechanism is needed to make biodiversity data and information accessible worldwide. Attempts to integrate parts of the biological and ecological data matrix are occurring in a handful of projects (e.g., INBio in Costa Rica, Diversitas [an ICSU-UNESCO program for biodiversity research], and Species 2000), but these efforts need to be augmented and coordinated. The existence of such a mechanism will produce many economic and social benefits. For example, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) obligates nations to implement provisions relating to conservation, use and equitable sharing of biodiversity. A scientific information resource that could facilitate fulfillment of these obligations is greatly needed. Such a resource will also contribute to biotechnology and bioengineering, and therefore will be a central element in sustainable development. Because biodiversity is one of the primary measures of environmental impact, sound scientific information about it provides a way of determining whether development in a particular region is actually sustainable. The Subgroup on Biodiversity Informatics recommends that the governments of OECD Member countries establish and support a distributed system of interlinked and interoperable modules (databases, software and networking tools, search engines, analytical algorithms, etc.) that together will form a Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). This facility will enable users to navigate and put to use vast quantities of biodiversity information, thereby advancing scientific research in areas such as agriculture, biomedicine, biotechnology, environmental management, pest control, health, education, and conservation, among others; serving the economic and quality-of-life interests of society; and providing a basis from which knowledge of the natural world can grow rapidly, in a manner that avoids duplication of effort and expenditure. This Facility will be distributed, while encouraging co-operation and coherence; global in scale, though ...

The case for climate action has never been stronger. Current weather extremes, including storms, floods and drought, affect millions of people across the world. Climate change is putting water security at risk; threatening agricultural and other supply chains as well as many coastal cities. The likelihood of severe pervasive and irreversible impacts will grow without action to limit and reverse the growth of GHG emissions globally. Last year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report makes clear the overwhelming need to take action now on climate change and that the costs of inaction will only rise. The challenge is to decarbonize our economies by 2100 with action in the next decades being critical. The choices made by government, the private sector, and civil society as part of the transition to a decarbonized economy will determine the extent of future climate impacts but also provide an opportunity to unlock investment and build an innovative, dynamic low-carbon economy.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, both the private and public sectors face stringent constraints in funding for transport infrastructure investment and transport services. At the same time, economic recession highlights the social value of public support for disadvantaged users of transport services and more generally the importance of effective transport systems to efficient labour markets and access to jobs. This drives governments to focus anew on efficiency in the delivery of transport services and infrastructure investments and on efficient targeting of support for public transport. In developing economies these policy concerns are amplified by rapid urbanisation, which makes coordination of transport services across metropolitan areas imperative.

Security concerns are high on the political agenda in many countries because of the widespread perception that security is increasingly threatened by intentional malicious acts including terrorist attacks. While terrorism has a long history and measures to maintain and improve security are in place, major events - including but not limited to the 9/11 attacks - have triggered stronger action to improve security. In this context, much attention goes to maintaining secure transport for two reasons. First, many transport facilities and vehicles are appealing targets for terrorist attacks because of the concentration of potential victims. Second, transport can act as a conveyor for terrorist attacks, e.g. by moving weapons into ports or by turning airplanes into weapons. In both cases, the difficulties in protecting the many potential targets while maintaining smooth transport operations strengthens the appeal of transport targets.

Infrastructure worldwide has suffered from chronic under-investment for decades and currently makes up more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. A deep transformation of existing infrastructure systems is needed for both climate and development, one that includes systemic conceptual and behavioral changes in the ways in which we manage and govern our societies and economies. This report is a joint effort by the OECD, UN Environment and the World Bank Group, supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. It focuses on how governments can move beyond the current incremental approach to climate action and more effectively align financial flows with climate and development priorities. The report explores six key transformative areas that will be critical to align financial flows with low-emission and resilient societies (planning, innovation, public budgeting, financial systems, development finance, and cities) and looks at how rapid socio-economic and technological developments, such as digitalization, can open new pathways to low-emission, resilient futures.

With over one billion international tourist arrivals per year, forecast to rise to 1.5 billion per year by 2020, transport is an essential component of the tourism system. Transport connects tourism generating regions (both domestic and international) to destinations, and facilitates the internal movement of visitors between attractions, accommodation, and commercial services. The location, capacity, efficiency and connectivity of transport can therefore play a significant role in how a destination develops, significantly influencing the mobility of visitors and the connectivity of tourist experiences within destinations. At the same time the growing number of travellers creates numerous challenges in terms of transport infrastructure and capacity, border crossing, intermodality, information for travellers and inter-operability of technologies with tourism service providers.

This report seeks to identify key capital markets instruments that can help mobilize institutional investors to infrastructure and small and medium enterprises (SME) financing in emerging market economies (EMEs). EMEs face financing gaps in infrastructure and SMEs that if not addressed can stifle growth and affect shared prosperity. This report is structured as follows: this section explains the objective of this report and the scope of the work undertaken. Section two provides an overview of the size and importance of institutional investors in EMEs and their current portfolio allocation. Sections three and four analyze key capital markets instruments that might help to mobilize institutional investors in EMEs to infrastructure and SME financing, and their current use in AEs and EMEs. Section five explains the challenges affecting the development of capital markets instruments in EMEs. Section six provides an overview of the role of governments and multilateral development banks (MDBs). Section seven draws conclusions and offer recommendations about actions that EMEs will need to undertake to mobilize institutional investors to infrastructure and SME financing.