Specialized services and personnel are essential to provide comprehensive neurological care. They are also important for providing training, support and supervision to primary health-care providers in neurological care. The median number of neurologists is 0.91 per 100 000 population in the respond-ing countries. This deficiency is particularly evident in the African, South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific Regions. In terms of the population covered, only one quarter has access to more than one neurologist per 100 000 population. The median number of neurologists per 100 000 population is also much lower for low-income countries (0.03) compared with high-income countries (2.96). Recommen-dations regarding the required number of neurologists in a country are available from countries in the European Region and the Region of the Americas, varying between 1 and 5 per 100 000 population. The number of available neurologists in the low-income countries is very much lower than any of these recommendations.The availability of other types of highly specialized personnel is also limited, with median numbers for neuropaediatricians and neurosurgeons being 0.10 and 0.56 per 100 000 popula-tion, respectively. Again, this deficiency is particularly evident in Africa, South-East Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific. In terms of population covered, more than one neuropaediatrician and neurosurgeon per 100 000 popu-lation are available for only 2.2% and 15.1% of the popula-tion, respectively. Such a situation is particularly evident in low-income countries, with only 0.002 neuropaediatricians and 0.03 neurosurgeons available per 100 000 population.Neurological nursing does not exist as a specialty in 41% of the responding countries. Three quarters of the responding countries have access to less than one neurological nurse per 100 000 population. The median number of neurological nurses in the responding countries per 100 000 population is 0.11. While training for neurologists is being pursued, special-ized neurological nursing training has been neglected even in developed countries.The presence of subspecialized neurological services indicates the level of organization and development of neurology in a country. Subspecialized neurological services are important, because many neurological disorders require highly specialized skills for appropriate diagnosis and management. Such servic-es also provide the basis for conducting research and training for various neurological disorders. The respondents reported availability of subspecialized neurological services (paediatric neurology, neurological rehabilitation, neuroradiology and stroke units) in at least two thirds of the responding countries for each of these areas. All the subspecialized services are especially deficient in the African Region, while stroke units are also deficient in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Like all other neurological resources, the availability of subspecial-ized services is much lower for the low-income countries.In interpreting these data, however, an important limitation should be kept in mind: respondents may have replied positively to the question of availability of subspecialized neuro-logical services in the country even when only a very limited number of such facilities are available in a few large cities, as no information on the type, quality and estimate of number of the facilities was obtained from the respondents.Basic neurological care, including availability of common drugs, is expected to be available in primary health-care settings. The results show, however, that in 15.6% of the responding countries, not even one antiepileptic drug is avail-able through primary care; the same situation exists in 25% of the low-income countries. Other results show that at least one drug for Parkinson’s disease is available through primary care in 60.6% of the responding countries, but 83% of the low-income countries do not have even a single anti-Par-kinsonian drug available through primary care. No follow-up treatment or emergency care for neurological disordersis available at primary care level in 24% and 26% of the responding countries, respectively.Training facilities for neurology are considered an essential part of the health-care system for this specialty in order to continuously improve delivery of neurological care. Although facilities for postgraduate training in neurology exists in 76% of the responding countries, no such facility exists in half of the low-income countries and few are available in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. The median number of medical graduates obtaining a specialist degree in neurology every year is 0.04 per 100 000 population. The number is much lower in Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia. Although training facilities are available in a large number of countries, the number of postgraduates who obtain a specialist degree is clearly inadequate.Adequate financing of neurology services is essential to pro-vide the needed care for this group of patients. However, only 10.4% of the responding countries have a separate budget for neurological illnesses within their health budgets. The pro-portion of the overall health budget allocated for neurological disorders is not specified. Although a separate budget for neurological services is not essential, when present it assists in earmarking the resources and planning the services more effectively. Common methods of financing neurological care include social insurance and tax-based funding (each in one third of the responding countries), followed by out-of-pockepayments in a quarter of responding countries. Out-of-pocket expenses are particularly important in Africa and South-East Asia. Tax-based funding is the most important source of financing neurological care in the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. Social insurance is the most important source of financing in the European Region (58.3% of the responding countries). Private insurance plays very little role in financing neurologi-cal care. Out-of-pocket expenditure is the most important method of financing in low-income countries. This is likely to result in more inequity in the utilization of neurological servic-es. Some form of disability benefit is available in 70.5% of the responding countries. However, two thirds of the low-income countries have no disability benefits available. This deficiency is particularly evident in Africa and South-East Asia.A reporting and information-gathering system for health con-ditions assists in monitoring the situation over time, alerts the health system to emerging trends, and facilitates planning. A reporting system for neurological disorders does not exist in one quarter of the responding countries and a data collection system does not exist in half of the responding countries. The information collection systems are often not in place in the African, South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions.Professional, user and carer groups are among the most influ-ential advocates to improve the quality of health services in a country. Of the responding countries, 87% have a national neurological association; however, only half of the responding countries in the African Region have a national neurological association. These associations are mainly involved in organ-izing professional meetings and conferences and advising government. Nongovernmental organizations for neurological disorders exist in 71.7% of the responding countries. There are no nongovernmental organizations for neurological dis-orders in more than half of the responding countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. No such organizations exist in 35% of the low-income countries.On the whole, the Neurology Atlas data shows that the avail-able resources for neurological disorders in the world are insufficient when set against the known significant burden associated with these disorders.