Antibiotic usage by surveillance category by country

Total defined daily doses of AWaRe category: Access used per 1000 inhabitants per day. Access antibiotics have activity against a wide range of common pathogens and show lower resistance potential than antibiotics in the other groups.

Countries reporting
44
Highest
24.33 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day
Tunisia
Lowest
3.83 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day
Mali
Median
12.41 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day
Years covered
8
2016–2023
Data points
344

What the numbers show

Antibiotic usage by surveillance category is currently reported for 44 countries. The highest value is 24.33 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day in Tunisia; the lowest is 3.83 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day in Mali.

The median across all reporting countries is 12.41 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day, and the mean is 12.23 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 6.

Over the past decade 22 countries rose and 18 fell. The largest increase was in Maldives (up 64.4%), and the largest decrease in Tanzania (down 81.7%).

Antibiotic usage by surveillance category: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Tunisia 24.33 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 2.3% falling
2 Tanzania 20.01 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 81.7% volatile
3 Cyprus 18.92 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2022 up 37.4% rising
4 Jordan 18.65 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 34.1% falling
5 France 17.77 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 2.5% falling
7 Montenegro 17.09 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 2.3% falling
8 Colombia 16.31 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 7.6% flat
9 Spain 15.75 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 10.4% falling
10 Burkina Faso 15.61 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 8.3% falling
11 Iceland 15.59 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 1.9% falling
12 Laos 15.33 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 falling
13 Benin 15.33 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 11.2% falling
14 South Africa 15.13 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 rising
15 Romania 14.79 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 3.7% flat
16 Poland 14.5 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 7.1% flat
17 Belgium 14.45 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 5.5% falling
19 Belarus 13.73 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 41.0% rising
20 Denmark 13.38 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 1.9% flat
21 Croatia 13.1 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 1.7% falling
22 Italy 12.82 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 1.3% flat
23 Lithuania 12.67 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 6.6% flat
24 Portugal 12.46 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 9.5% flat
25 United Kingdom 12.36 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 2.2% falling
26 Georgia 11.73 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 12.6% falling
27 Maldives 11.49 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 64.4% rising
28 Latvia 10.83 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 13.8% rising
29 Bhutan 10.75 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 rising
30 Bangladesh 10.56 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 24.5% rising
31 Tajikistan 10.04 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 22.6% falling
32 Slovenia 10.02 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 4.0% falling
33 Finland 9.83 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 23.3% falling
34 Norway 9.68 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 4.5% falling
35 Nepal 8.73 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 33.1% falling
36 Armenia 8.7 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 55.5% flat
37 Estonia 8.28 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 18.9% rising
38 Germany 8.22 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 21.9% rising
39 Switzerland 7.57 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 14.6% rising
40 Hungary 7.41 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 2.9% flat
41 Austria 7.4 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 up 7.4% flat
42 Russia 7.35 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 8.8% falling
43 Sweden 6.99 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2021 down 26.3% falling
44 Ukraine 4.59 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 down 2.3% falling
45 Honduras 3.98 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2023 falling
46 Mali 3.83 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day 2022 up 1.1% volatile

About this data

Indicator
Antibiotic usage by surveillance category
Unit
defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day
Source
WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
46 places, 344 data points, 2016–2023
Last refreshed

Total defined daily doses of AWaRe category: Access used per 1000 inhabitants per day. Access antibiotics have activity against a wide range of common pathogens and show lower resistance potential than antibiotics in the other groups.