Mental illness in Europe chart | Chart for mental illness in Europe -More than one in six people in EU countries have a mental health problemMental health problems affect about 84 million people in the EU, according to the latest estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.That's more than one in six people facing problems that range from anxiety to depression to drug and alcohol addiction, as well as severe mental illnesses like bipolar or schizophrenic disorders.Such problems come at a high personal and social cost.Across EU countries, over 84,000 people died due to mental health problems or by suicide in 2015.Add to this people with mental health problems who die prematurely from physical causes, such as untreated chronic diseases.The overall costs related to mental ill-health in the EU-28 are estimated to have exceeded 4% of GDP, or more than €600 billion, in 2015.This includes both direct spending on health systems and social security programmes, and indirect costs related to the likes of lower employment and lower productivity.These are also conservative estimates, as they do not take into account social assistance or work-injury benefits, or the fact that the costs of
Finland has consistently been one of the most successful countries in global education rankings. For some, its name has become synonymous with educational excellence. While Finland is not alone in achieving world-class educational standards, what makes the country unique is that all of its schools are, effectively, elite schools: performance differences between Finnish schools account for just 5% of the total variation in student performance.
On a cold, dark Helsinki winter's day in 2014, I was waiting for OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and my other colleagues in a black limousine in front of the austere parliament building.The scene could have come out of a John le Carré thriller.It was late in the day.The OECD delegation I was waiting for was meeting Alexander Stubb, then the minister for European affairs and foreign trade.One of Finland's most europhile and techsavvy statesmen, Mr Stubb soon became prime minister.How things had changed in 50 years.In 1969, when Finland became an OECD member country, Cold War tensions were still running high.The decade had started with the Cuban missile crisis and building of the Berlin Wall.Finland was a small country squeezed between the Soviet and US superpowers.
