World health statistics 2008

Overview

World Health Statistics 2008 presents the most recent available health statistics for WHO’s 193 Member States. This fourth edition includes 10 highlights of health statistics as well as data on an expanded set of over 70 key health indicators. The indicators were selected on the basis of their relevance to global health monitoring and considerations of data availability, accuracy and comparability among Member States.

This publication is in two parts. Part 1 presents 10 topical highlights based on recent publications or results of new analyses of existing data. Part 2 presents key health indicators in the form of six tables for all WHO Member States: mortality and burden of disease; health service coverage; risk factors; health systems resources; inequities in health care coverage and health outcome; and basic demographic and socioeconomic statistics.

This edition includes, for the first time, data on trends where the statistics are available and of acceptable quality.