Health statistics - children

Data extracted in December 2025

Planned article update: January 2028

Highlights

In 2024, almost 96% of children aged below 16 years in the EU had very good or good general health.

In 2024, 4.6% of children in the EU reported a disability (activity limitation due to health problems), of whom 3.5% had a moderate disability and 1.1% had a severe disability.

Among children in the EU, 3.2% had unmet needs for medical care and 4.1% had unmet needs for dental care in 2024.

This article presents an overview of the health status for children below 16 years old in the European Union (EU) in 2024.

It focuses on perceived health, level of disability and unmet needs for medical and dental care for children in the EU. The different health dimensions are analysed by at-risk-of-poverty and social exclusion (AROPE), household income, household composition, age group and level of activity limitation (disability).

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

Children's level of general health

95.7% of children aged below 16 years in the EU had very good or good general health in 2024

In 2024, the general perceived health of 95.7% of children aged below 16 years in the EU was rated as very good or good. Among the EU countries, the share ranged from 92.3% in Portugal to 98.9% in Greece. 21 EU countries recorded a percentage higher than or equal to 95.0% of children whose health was rated as very good or good.

Figure 1 shows the share of children in very good or good general health, broken down by whether they are at risk of poverty and social exclusion (AROPE) or not (non-AROPE). 96.4% of children not at risk had very good or good general health, compared with 93.3% of children at risk.

In most EU countries, children not at risk had a higher share of very good or good perceived health compared with those at risk, with Greece (98.8% non-AROPE vs. 99.3% AROPE) and Sweden (92.9% vs. 94.8%) being the exceptions. The largest gaps were observed in Portugal (7.7 percentage points (pp)) and Ireland (6.8 pp), while the smallest, excluding the two negative differences, were observed in Malta (0.0 pp), Romania (0.4 pp) and Bulgaria (0.5 pp).

Figure 1: Children with very good or good perceived health by at risk of poverty and social exclusion, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch12)

Disability (activity limitations due to health problems)

1.1% of children in the EU were reported as having severe disability in 2024

In the EU, 3.5% of children reported having moderate disability and 1.1% having a severe level of disability. Across the EU countries, the share of children with moderate limitation in activities due to health problems ranged from 10.8% in Denmark, 10.6% in Finland and 7.1% in Sweden, down to the smallest shares of 0.1% in Greece, 0.6% in Romania and 0.9% in Italy.

As shown in Figure 2, children with a reported severe disability accounted for less than 2% in almost all EU countries, except in Denmark (2.3%) and Sweden (2.2%).

Figure 2: Children with disability, by level of disability, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch13)

In 2024, 5.1% of children in the EU from households with income below 60% of the equivalised median income had a moderate or severe disability

In the EU, the percentage of children with self-reported moderate or severe disability was 4.3% in households with an income above 60% of the median equivalised income, and 5.1% in households with an income below this threshold.

As shown in Figure 3, in 17 EU countries, a higher share of children with disability was found in households whose income is below 60% of the median equivalised income than in households whose income is above 60%. The largest gap was found in Czechia (4.7 pp), the Netherlands (4.6 pp) and Estonia (3.2 pp).

Figure 3: Children with 'moderate or severe' disability, by household income group, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch13)

In 2024, children aged 10 to 15 made up the highest proportion of children with moderate or severe disabilities

In the EU, the highest percentage of children with moderate or severe disability were in the age group ‘10 to 15 years’ (5.6%), followed by the age group ‘5 to 9 years’ (4.7%) and ‘4 years or less’ (2.8%). As shown in Figure 4, this ranking held for 15 EU countries. In 19 countries, the highest share was in the ‘10 to 15 years’ age group.

Figure 4: Children with ‘moderate or severe’ disability, by age group, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch13)

Unmet needs for medical care and dental care

In 2024, the highest rates of unmet needs for medical care were recorded in Finland, both for children living in households at risk of poverty and social exclusion and for those in households not at risk

In 2024, 3.2% of children aged below 16 years in the EU were reported to have unmet needs for medical examination or treatment (hereafter referred to as medical care), a share that ranged from 0.1% in Malta and Croatia to 9.4% in Finland, as shown in Figure 5.

This range differs when considering the risk of poverty and social exclusion. In the EU, 4.9% of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion reported unmet needs for medical care, which was 2.2 pp higher than the 2.7% among children not at risk. The highest rates of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion who were reported as having unmet needs for medical care were recorded in Finland (10.7%), France (8.7%) and Estonia (7.5%), while the lowest were in Croatia (0.0%), Malta (0.3%), Luxembourg and Germany (both 1.5%).

In all EU countries, the share of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion who were reported as having unmet needs for medical care was higher than that of children not at risk, except in Lithuania (1.3 pp lower), Ireland (0.3 pp lower) and Croatia (0.1 pp lower).

Figure 5: Children with unmet needs for medical care, by at risk of poverty and social exclusion, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14a)

At EU level, unmet needs for medical care were higher among single-adult households with dependent children in 2024

In 2024, in the EU, 5.0% of children living in households composed of one adult with dependent children reported having unmet needs for medical care. This rate was lower for households composed of two or more adults with dependent children (2.9%) as shown in Figure 6.

In 19 EU countries, the rate of children with unmet medical needs was higher among those living in single-adult households compared with those in households with 2 or more adults. The largest differences were observed in Romania (8.5 pp; low reliability for the ‘one adult with dependent children’ category), the Netherlands (5.4 pp), Denmark (4.5 pp) and Belgium (4.2 pp), while the smallest were in Germany (0.2 pp), Croatia (0.3 pp), Austria and Malta (both 0.5 pp).

Figure 6: Children with unmet needs for medical care, by household composition, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14)

In 2024, the highest rates of children with unmet needs for dental care were observed in Spain, Finland and France, lowest in Croatia, Malta and Luxembourg

In 2024, in the EU, 4.1% of children aged below 16 years were reported as having unmet needs for dental care. The highest rates were observed in Spain (7.5%), Finland (6.8%) and France (6.2%), while the lowest were reported in Croatia (0.2%), Malta (0.5%) and Luxembourg (1.0%).

In the EU, 8.4% of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion were reported as having unmet needs for dental care, which was 5.6 pp higher than that of children not at risk (2.8%). The highest rates for children at risk of poverty and social exclusion were recorded in Spain (15.8%), Estonia (10.9%) and Finland (10.7%), while the lowest were reported in Croatia (0.0%), the Netherlands (0.3%), Malta (0.5%) and Denmark (0.8%).

Figure 7: Children with unmet needs for dental care, by at risk of poverty and social exclusion, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14a)

At EU level, unmet needs for dental care were higher among single adult households with dependent children in 2024

In the EU, 6.5% of children living in households composed of one adult with dependent children were reported as having unmet needs for dental care (examination or treatment) in 2024. The percentage is 3.7% for children living in households composed of two or more adults with dependent children (see Figure 8).

Across the EU countries, households composed of one adult with dependent children reported higher percentages of children with unmet needs for dental care in 15 countries. The highest values were recorded in Ireland (16.1%), Spain (9.7%) and France (9.4%), while lowest ones in Croatia, Malta and Hungary (all 0.0%).

Regarding households with 2 or more adults, highest values were recorded in Spain (7.3%), Finland (6.8%) and France (5.5%), while lowest ones in Croatia (0.2%), Malta (0.6%) and Luxembourg (1.0%).

Cyprus was the only country having reported the same percentage for both the single parent households and the ones with 2 or more adults, with a value of 1.3%.

Figure 8: Children with unmet needs for dental care, by household composition, 2024
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14)

Source data for tables and graphs

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Data sources

The data used in the article are derived from the 2024 3-yearly rolling module on ‘children’ of the EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC). This source is documented in more detail in this EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology article which provides information on the scope of the data, its legal basis, the methodology employed, as well as related concepts and definitions.

The three yearly rolling module was included in EU-SILC for the first time in 2021. The current SE article refers to EU-SILC 2024 operation. The module will be repeated in 2027.

In order to analyse major issues concerning the health of children, the following variables were collected for each child aged 0 - 15 years currently living in the household:

perceived general/overall health of a child,
long-standing limitation (and its severity) in activities because of health problems which is used as a proxy to measure disability,
restricted access to medical care via the parent's own assessment of whether the children in the household needed a medical examination or treatment, but didn't receive it due to specific reasons.

For children's variables, the mode of data collection was personal interview with the household respondents.

Limitations of the data

As the EU-SILC does not cover the institutionalised population, the presence of health problems might be under-estimated. For example, people living in health and social care institutions are likely to perceive a worse health status than that of the population living in private households. By contrast, the exclusion of health and social care institutions, where medical care is likely to be readily available, may lead to an over-estimation of unmet needs for health care. Finally, despite substantial and continuous efforts for harmonisation, the implementation of EU-SILC is organised nationally, which may impact on the results presented, for example, due to differences in the formulation of questions or their precise coverage.

Context

The World Health Organisation defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity", which alludes to its multidimensional nature and a range of different indicators for measuring it.

Good health is an asset in itself. It is not only of value to the individual as a major determinant of quality of life, well-being and social participation, but it also contributes to general social and economic growth. Many factors influence the health status of a population and these can be addressed by health and other policies regionally, nationally or across the EU.

The health status of individuals and of the population in general is determined by a complex set of factors: genetic dispositions, individual behaviour, environmental, cultural and socioeconomic conditions, as well as by the functioning of healthcare services.

Health status monitoring is important for more topical policies such as active and healthy living in the digital world, health inequalities and social protection and social inclusion.

Investment designed to reduce health inequalities should contribute to increased social cohesion and may help break the spiral of poor health that both contributes to and results from poverty and exclusion. Health inequalities represent a considerable burden both in terms of their effect on an individual's health, as well as productivity losses and costs associated with social protection systems.

An indicator on the equality of access to health care services, defined as the total self-reported unmet need for medical care is included in the health services chapter of the European core health indicators (ECHI).

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