For the first time in history, in 2011, life expectancy at birth on average across OECD countries exceeded 80 years, an increase of ten years since 1970 (). Italy, Japan and Switzerland lead a large group of over two-thirds of OECD countries in which life expectancy at birth now exceeds 80 years. A second group, including Chile, the United States, and a number of Central and Eastern European countries, have a life expectancy between 75 and 80 years. Among OECD countries, life expectancy was lowest in Mexico and Turkey. While life expectancy in Turkey has increased rapidly and steadily over the past four decades, the increase in Mexico has slowed down markedly since 2000.

In almost all OECD countries, a majority of the adult population reports their health as good or better (, Panel A). Canada, New Zealand and the United States are the three leading countries, with about nine out of ten people reporting to be in good health. However, the response categories offered to survey respondents in these three countries are different from those used in European countries and Asian OECD countries, which introduce an upward bias in the results.

Suicide is a significant cause of death in many OECD countries, and accounted for over 150 000 deaths in 2011. There are a complex set of reasons why some people choose to attempt or commit suicide, with multiple risk-factors that can predispose a person to attempt to take their own life.

How much OECD countries spend on health and the rate at which such expenditure grows from one year to the next reflects a wide array of market and social factors, as well as countries’ diverse financing and organisational structures of their health systems.

Most OECD countries have achieved near-universal coverage of health care costs for a core set of services, which usually include consultations with doctors and specialists, tests and examinations, and surgical and therapeutic procedures (). Two OECD countries do not have universal health coverage. In Mexico, the Seguro Popular voluntary health insurance scheme was introduced in 2004 to provide coverage for the poor and uninsured, and grew so rapidly that by 2011, nearly 90% of the population was covered. In the United States, coverage is provided mainly through private health insurance, and 53% of the population had this for their basic coverage in 2011. Publicly financed coverage insured 32% of the population (the elderly, people with low income or with disabilities), leaving 15% of the population without health coverage.