Healthcare activities statistics - consultations

Data extracted in July 2023.

Planned article update: 21 August 2024.

Highlights

On average, people in Slovakia, Germany and Hungary made 11.0, 9.6 and 9.5 visits, respectively, to consult medical doctors during the course of 2021 – the highest averages among the EU Member States.

People in the Netherlands made an average of 3.1 visits to dentists during the course of 2021, by far the highest ratio among the EU Member States.

People in Ireland (2018 data), Hungary, Romania (both 2021 data) and Cyprus (2020 data) made an average of less than 0.5 visits to dentists during the course of the year, the lowest ratios among the EU Member States.

Consultation of a medical doctor, 2021

Malta: not available.
Germany: only including cases of physician treatments according to reimbursement regulations.
Ireland: 2019; estimate; also including telephone consultations; persons aged 15 or over only.
Italy: estimate.
Cyprus: 2020; only including hospitals and health centres of the public sector and practising in the private sector under the General Health Scheme.
Luxembourg: provisional.
Netherlands, Slovakia and Liechtenstein: also including telephone consultations.
Austria: also including telephone consultations from 2020; only including visits to doctors with contracts with the health insurance providers.
Portugal: excluding medical consultations in a patient's home and consultations at a physician's office.
Norway: definition differs.
Serbia: only includes consultations of physicians in institutions under the Ministry of Health; excludes the private health sector.
Source: Eurostat (online data code: hlth_hc_phys2)

This article presents an overview of European Union (EU) statistics related to consultations of medical professionals, in particular the consultation of doctors, dentists, psychologists, psychotherapists and physiotherapists.

This article is one of a set of statistical articles concerning healthcare activities in the EU which forms part of an online publication on health statistics.

While most of the statistics presented in this article are self-reported data relating to 2019, administrative data in Figures 1 and 4 are generally for 2021. As such, this article includes data that may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions. For this reason, particular attention should be paid when comparing the 2021 data with data from earlier years.

In some EU Member States, healthcare resources were placed under intense pressure (particularly at the start of the pandemic) from an influx of patients with COVID-19. The pandemic also resulted in a range of knock-on effects including, among others, some services being curtailed/postponed due to the number of COVID-19 patients, staff shortages within hospitals, day care centres and doctor’s/dentist’s surgeries due to infection/quarantine procedures, and patients being hindered accessing medical services due to their own infection/quarantine as well as lockdown, travel or other restrictions.

Full article

Consultations of doctors

Statistics on the average number of consultations that people have with a physician include consultations at the physician’s office, in the patient’s home, or in out-patient departments of hospitals or ambulatory health care centres. These figures exclude consultations/visits during a treatment as part of in-patient or day care patient care in a hospital or similar institution. In general, they also exclude remote consultations, such as by telephone.

Among the EU Member States, there is a wide range in the frequency with which medical doctors are consulted. In Sweden and Greece, people consulted physicians, on average, less than 3.0 times during 2021; older data for Cyprus also indicate a low frequency. The average number of consultations generally ranged between 3.5 and 7.8 in most EU Member States (no recent data for Malta). The highest frequencies for consultations of physicians during 2021 were recorded in the Netherlands (8.6 per person; including telephone consultations), Hungary (9.5), Germany (9.6; only including cases according to reimbursement regulations) and Slovakia (11.0; including telephone consultations).

Compared with the average for 2018 to 2020, the average number of consultations decreased in 2021 in 19 of the 24 EU Member States for which data are available (see Figure 1 for data availability). The exceptions were Czechia, Austria, Poland, Latvia and Slovakia; note that there was a change in coverage for Austria. The largest decreases in both relative and absolute terms were recorded for Italy (down 39 %; 3.3 fewer consultations per person) and Lithuania (down 24 %; 2.0 fewer consultations per person).

Figure 1: Consultation of a medical doctor, average 2018–2020 and 2021
(average number of consultations per inhabitant)
Source: Eurostat (hlth_hc_phys2)

Consultations of dentists

In 2021, the highest average number of consultations of dentists was in the Netherlands

The average number of consultations of dentists was far lower than the average number of consultations of medical doctors, as can be seen by comparing the scales of Figures 1 and 4. In Cyprus, Romania, Hungary and Ireland people consulted dentists, on average, less than 0.5 times during 2021. Most other EU Member States reported averages between 0.6 and 1.7 consultations. The Netherlands was well above this range, with an average of 3.1 consultations per inhabitant.

Figure 4: Consultation of a dentist, 2021
(average number of consultations per inhabitant)
Source: Eurostat (hlth_hc_dent)

Source data for tables and graphs

Healthcare activities – consultations: tables and figures

Data sources

This article presents data on consultations of medical professionals from two types of sources. One of these mainly relies on administrative data whereas the other is based on self-reported consultations from population or household surveys.

Healthcare resources and activities

Statistics on healthcare resources and healthcare activities (such as information on consultations of doctors and dentists) are documented in this background article which provides information on the scope of the data, its legal basis, the methodology employed, as well as related concepts and definitions. Consultations of doctors generally exclude telephone contacts, visits for prescribed laboratory tests, or visits to perform prescribed and scheduled treatment procedures (such as injections and physiotherapy). Consultations of dentists include consultations of dental specialists, such as orthodontists.

For country specific notes on these data collections, please refer to the annexes at the end of the national metadata reports accessible from links at the beginning of the European metadata report.

The Healthcare non-expenditure statistics manual provides an overview of the classifications, both for mandatory variables and variables provided on voluntary basis.

Health status

Self-reported statistics on consultations of doctors, dentists, psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and physiotherapists are provided by the European health interview survey (EHIS). This source is documented in more detail in this background article which provides information on the scope of the data, its legal basis, the methodology employed, as well as related concepts and definitions.

Context

Medical consultations are usually held in a doctor’s surgery/dentist’s practice or another place for the provision of ambulatory care, including out-patient care in hospitals, although medical professionals may also travel to patients, for example, in the case of an accident or emergency, or a home visit. Consultations may also be remote, for example by telephone, but such consultations should not be included in the data presented here; when it is known that they have been included, such cases are footnoted in this article.

The frequency of consulting a particular type of medical professional may be influenced by the way doctors and other professionals are paid (either a fixed rate or as a function of the number and type of consultations and services provided), the range of services offered by other professionals (for example, some services may be provided by both nurses and doctors), and the division of work between generalist and specialist practitioners.

From the patient’s perspective, the time and monetary cost of a consultation may be factors which influence their decision to seek a consultation, alongside their perception as to their own needs for professional assistance. The frequency of consultations is also related to socio-demographic factors, such as age and sex.