You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph below shows the information about medical care in three European countries between 1980 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

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Model Answer

The given table illustrates the health care facilities in three European countries namely Austria, France and Sweden from 1980 to 2000. A cursory glance at the graph is enough to make it clear that the hospital beds per thousand people increased, whereas the average stay in hospital decreased with time.

In Austria, the number of doctors grew marginally from 0.8 per 1000 people in 1980 to 1.0 per 1000 people. Surprisingly, the availability of physicians fell in France, from 2.4/1000 to 1.3/1000 people, from 1980 to 2000. Sweden had the best healthcare with 3.6 doctors per 1000 people in 1980. This number fell in 1990 to 3.0/1000 people, but picked up again in 2000 and became 3.8/1000 people.

France saw the most marked growth in the number of hospital beds per thousand from 0.2 in 1980 to 1.6 by 2000, which was an eight-fold increase. In Austria, the escalation in the number of hospital beds per 1000 people was from 1.4 to 3.7 in the given period. Sweden took the lead here also by having 6.4 beds /1000 people in 1980 and 1990. In 2000, the number of hospital beds was 6.9 / 1000 people.

The average stay in hospitals was the maximum in Sweden at around 20 days on an average throughout the given time period. In France, the average stay in hospital decreased gradually from 9 days in 1980 to 5 days in 2000. Austria saw a marked decrease in the days of hospitalization from 18 in 1980 to 8 in 2000.

Overall, it is manifest from the graph that the Swedes enjoyed the best healthcare, whereas France was at the last position among the given three countries over the given period of two decades.