What's better: our health system or my English?

My initial confusion when reading a passage in this article was gradually replaced by self-loathing. When will my English improve sufficiently to grok what is written? Oh, here is the passage in question:

According to the two reports, the numbers of hospital beds in Israel is relatively low compared to other OECD countries (third from the bottom) – 1.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people, compared to an average of 3.3 hospital beds in OECD countries.

Despite the shortage, the hospital beds occupancy rate in Israel – 94.1 percent – is the highest in the organization, compared to an average of 76.1 percent among OECD members.

Tricky word that "despite", ain't it?