While many poorer countries have inadequate access to antibiotics, leading to unnecessary deaths through lack of adequate treatments, other middle and higher income countries are using volumes far beyond global norms.
The study, based on a combination of prescription data and statistical modelling, shows that the highest rate of consumption in a single country — measured as a defined daily dose per 1,000 people per day — is in Greece, at nearly 45.9, compared with a global average of 14.3 and an average of 21.1 in Western Europe.
There has also been a sharp rise in the Middle East, where antibiotics are often provided without prescriptions, which risks the development of bacterial strains resistant to drugs.
The data is based on work led by a team at the University of Oxford, with Professor Christiane Dolecek and Dr Annie Browne.