Antimicrobial consumption - Annual Epidemiological Report for 2018

Key facts

• In 2018, the average total consumption (community and hospital sector combined) of antibacterials for systemic use (ATC group J01) in the EU/EEA was 20.1 DDD per 1 000 inhabitants per day (country range: 9.7–34.0). During the period 2009–2018, no statistically significant change was observed for the EU/EEA overall. However, statistically significant decreasing trends were observed for 11 countries. Statistically significant increasing trends were observed for four countries.
• The average consumption of antivirals for systemic use (ATC group J05) in both sectors (community and hospital sector combined) was 2.2 DDD per 1 000 inhabitants per day (country range: 0.51–6.78).  
• Twenty-eight countries – 26 EU Member States and two EEA countries (Iceland and Norway) – reported data on antimicrobial consumption for 2018. Twenty-four countries reported both community and hospital consumption, three countries reported only community consumption, and one country reported total consumption for both sectors but without differentiating between them.
• Antimicrobial consumption is expressed as the number of defined daily doses (DDDs) per 1 000 inhabitants per day. The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) DDD Index 2019 was used for the analysis of 2018 data as well as of historical data in order to assess 10-year trends.  
• The most recent data on antimicrobial consumption are available from the public ESAC-Net interactive database (data for 1997‒2018) on the ECDC website.