The antimicrobial consumption in hospital care has increased steadily during the latest decade. Now, broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents dominate the consumption at the expense of beta-lactamase sensitive penicillins. The reasons for these changes are not fully understood, but increased activity at the hospitals, higher resistance rates and the emergence of resistant nosocomial bacterial infections have played an important role. Denmark is no longer among the European countries with the lowest consumption. This indicates the need to implement restriction on antimicrobial usage in hospital care.