In Cyprus in 2017, 1.4 per cent of children aged below the age of 16 had medical needs that were not treated, slightly lower than the EU average of 1.8 per cent.
Perhaps surprisingly, the highest share of children with unmet medical needs was reported in Belgium (8.7 per cent). Romania was in second place (7.4 per cent), followed by Sweden (4.3 per cent), Finland (3.3 per cent) and Czechia (2.7 per cent).
In contrast, the lowest percentages were found to be in Austria (close to 0.0 per cent), Germany (0.1 per cent), and Hungary (0.2 per cent), while another five countries, Spain, Croatia, Malta, Slovakia and Portugal also had scores of less than one per cent.
In 2017, 2.3 per cent of children below 16 in the EU did not receive dental care that they needed. Cyprus scored slightly higher than the average, with 3.1 per cent.
The highest share of children with unmet needs for dental care was reported in Latvia (7.3 per cent), followed by Portugal (6 per cent), Spain and Romania (both 5.7 per cent).
However, in seven member states this rate dropped to less than 1 per cent, in Hungary, Croatia, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Austria and Slovakia.
The information for the report was gathered by interviewing one member of a household that included at least one child aged 15 or below.
“Children’s medical and dental needs can be unmet due to various reasons, such as inability to afford the treatment, long waiting lists, long travel times or no means of transport, or lack of time because of work or caring for family members or others,” the report explained.
Just ten days ago another Eurostat report on children’s health was published.
It was reported that some 98 per cent of Cypriot children were deemed to be in good health in 2017, compared with the EU average of 95 per cent.
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