Total health spending has fallen in one of three OECD countries between 2009 and 2011, with those hardest hit by the crisis most affected. This is a sharp reversal from the strong growth in the years prior to the crisis, according to a new OECD report.

International efforts to combat tax evasion and avoidance got a boost today as additional countries and jurisdictions agreed to join more than 60 other countries in tax co-operation through a key multilateral tax instrument during the first day of a global meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The international community has taken new steps to strengthen transparency and boost the comprehensive exchange of information between governments worldwide.

Recent reforms of pension systems have helped to contain the rise in future costs resulting from ageing populations and increasing life expectancy. Governments now need to do more to encourage people to work longer and save more for their retirement to ensure that benefits are adequate enough to maintain standards of living into old-age.

An 11-month investigation by the OECD in cooperation with the Greek authorities has identified a wide range of regulations and legal provisions that undermine competition.

Greece has made impressive headway in consolidating its public finances and undertaking key structural reforms to boost productivity and enhance competitiveness.

Hundreds of thousands of elected sub-national governments worldwide provide services and levy taxes on residents and companies.

Slovenia has become the 29th member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the leading international forum for providers of development co-operation.

In the two decades since apartheid ended, South Africa has made impressive strides to catch up with – and in some cases surpass -- the developed world’s environmental standards.

The OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Israel, to be published on Sunday 8 December 2013, details the fundamental strengths of the Israeli economy as well as the challenges to maintaining sustainable growth over the long-term.