 This study found that antibiotic consumption and antimicrobial resistance, AMR, are not always perfectly correlated within and between countries. The authors used three datasets to explore the relationship between these two phenomena, as well as the role of demographic, economic, governance, health, and freedom characteristics of 30 European countries. They found that there were three distinct clusters of countries, based on their scores on the five indexes. Countries with higher scores on the indexes had lower antibiotic consumption and lower AMR rates. Additionally, the authors found that the governance index had an indirect effect on AMR through its impact on antibiotic consumption, accounting for approximately one-third of the total effect. This suggests that improving governance may help reduce antibiotic overuse and thus combat AMR. This article was authored by Andrea Mowdery, Martina Bacchitta, Federico Puglisi, and others.