OECD collects data on the percentage of the population that smokes daily, while WHO reports on the proportion of the population who are current smokers. Despite this difference in indicator, the data largely aligns (Figure A A.1). Notably, there are more occasional (non-daily) smokers among women than men.
The Health and Economic Benefits of Tackling Non‑Communicable Diseases
OECD: Share of population who are daily smokers (%, 2022 or most recent year), vs. WHO: Estimate of current tobacco smoking prevalence (%, 2022)
Note: Grey line represents exact correspondence between OECD and WHO data.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025, https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-health-statistics.html; WHO Global Health Observatory, https://www.who.int/data/gho.
There are different ways of measuring alcohol consumption in a country. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) database contains both recorded and total consumption. Recorded alcohol consumption only takes into account the consumption recorded in country statistics from production, import, export and sales data, often via taxation. Recorded alcohol consumption is expressed in litres of pure alcohol per person aged 15 years and over. Total alcohol consumption also looks at unrecorded (and untaxed) alcohol, and subtracts the amount of alcohol consumed by tourists.
The OECD also reports data on recorded alcohol consumption in its Health Statistics. For some countries GISAH data are used, while for others data are supplied to the OECD by the country’s government. For selected countries, the Health Statistics may differ from the data in this report because they only relate to recorded alcohol consumption (Figure A A.2).
OECD: Recorded alcohol consumption in litres per person per year (2022 or most recent year), vs. WHO: Average daily intake in grammes of alcohol (converted into litres per year) (2022)
Note: For the graph, alcohol consumption in grammes per day was converted into litres per year by multiplying by 0.463. Grey line represents exact correspondence between OECD and WHO data.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025, https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-health-statistics.html; WHO Global Health Observatory, https://www.who.int/data/gho.
The WHO reports obesity estimates from NCD-RisC (Phelps et al., 2024[1]). These are calculated estimates, based on measured body-mass index (BMI) data and using a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends. For its Health Statistics, the OECD also collects data on overweight and obesity prevalence. This data comes from national surveys, is presented only for available years, and split by measured and self-reported estimates. BMI estimates based on self-reported data are typically lower and less reliable than those based on measured data. The obesity prevalence based on measured data largely aligns between OECD and WHO data (Figure A A.3).
OECD: Measured prevalence of obesity (BMI greater than or equal to 30) among adults (2022 or most recent year), vs. WHO: Percentage of adults aged 18+ years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher (2022)
Note: Grey line represents exact correspondence between OECD and WHO data.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025, https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-health-statistics.html; WHO Global Health Observatory, https://www.who.int/data/gho.
References
[1] Phelps, N. et al. (2024), “Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults”, The Lancet, Vol. 403/10431, pp. 1027-1050, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(23)02750-2.