Cyprus is among the countries with the lowest rates of children with unmet medical needs in the EU according to data released by Eurostat.
But unmet medical needs for dental care in minors aged 16 and under was slightly above the EU average.
In 2021, 1.5 per cent of children under 16 living in households as dependants in Cyprus had unmet medical needs, registering an increase of 0.1 percentage point (pp) compared to the rate recorded in the last report in 2017 (1.4%).
At EU level, the share was 3.6% in 2021, an increase of 2 pp compared to 2017 (1.6%).
The percentage of children with unmet medical needs was higher, 3.5%, for children living in households with one adult, but slightly lower, 1.3%, for households with two or more adults.
This mirrored the EU trend where the proportion of children with unmet medical needs who were living in households with one adult was 5.3%, compared to 3.4%, for households with two or more adults.
Among EU Member States, the highest rates of children with unmet medical needs living in households with children were recorded in 2021 in Poland (7.3%) and Latvia (6.4%), followed by Hungary and Romania (4.7% each) and Spain (4.6%).
The lowest rates were recorded in Austria (0.3%) and Luxembourg (0.4%), followed by Croatia (0.9%) and Malta, Lithuania and Cyprus (1.5% each).
The situation was similar, although slightly worse, in Cyprus and at EU level in terms of dental care.
In total 4.7% of children in Cyprus living in households with dependent minors (4.4% in the EU) did not receive the dental care they needed in 2021. This represented an increase of 1.6 pp in Cyprus compared to 2017 (3.1%), and an increase of 1.8 pp at EU level (2.6%).
Among all EU Member States, in 11 Member States the percentage of children with unmet dental care needs was above the EU average, including Cyprus.
This percentage was higher in households with one adult, with 7.5% of these children in Cyprus (7.1% in the EU) not receiving the dental care they needed. Meanwhile, 4.5% of children living in households with two or more adults in Cyprus (4.0% in the EU) had unmet dental care needs.
The highest proportions of children with unmet dental care needs living in households with dependent minors were recorded in 2021 in Latvia (7.7%), Spain (7.1%), Hungary (7.0%), Slovenia (6.8%) and Portugal (6.4%).
At the bottom of the ranking, the lowest rates were recorded in Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.
For more information visit https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/DDN-20230526-1.