Health statistics - children

Data extracted in May 2023.

Planned article update: February 2026.

Highlights

4.4 % of children in the EU reported a disability (activity limitation due to health problems) in 2021.

About 4 % of EU children had an unmet need for a medical care in 2021.

Infographic: Children's unmet needs for medical and dental care

This article presents an overview of the health status for children below 16 years old in the European Union (EU) in 2021. The first part focuses on the level of general perceived health, presenting the results according to levels of household income.

The second part looks at children with disability (activity limitations due to health problems) and analyses the results according to levels of limitation, by age groups and levels of household income.

Finally, the third part of the article presents the figures on unmet needs for health care-related services (examination or treatment), showing breakdowns for income groups, household composition and degree of urbanisation.

The data presented in this article come from a rolling module of the yearly EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data collection that was conducted in 2021 (see the 'data sources' section for more information). They are expressed as percentages within (or share of) the population combining various breakdowns: age (group), level of activity limitation (disability), household composition, degree of urbanisation and income quintile (group).

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.

Full article

Children's level of general health

Almost all children have very good or good general health

In 2021, the general perceived health of almost 97 % of children aged below 16 years in the EU was rated as very good or good. Across the EU Member States, the share of children whose health was rated as very good or good ranged from about 91 % in Portugal (90.7 %) to more than 98 % in Romania (98.0 %), Italy (98.0 %), Austria (98.1 %), Cyprus (98.3 %), Greece (98.9 %) and Bulgaria (99.3 %).

Figure 1 shows the share of children with very good or good general health in the first and fifth household income quintile. This share was higher for the children belonging to the fifth income quintile, namely 98.0 % compared with 95.0 % of the children belonging to the first household income quintile.

Figure 1: Children with very good or good perceived health by household income, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch12)

Among the EU Member States, the highest differences between the first and fifth income quintile was recorded in Portugal (16.1 percentage points (pp)).

In all countries, when household income belonged to the fifth quintile (rather than to the first quintile), the perceived health status of children was more likely to be 'very good' or 'good'. The only exception was recorded in Italy, where the children's overall perceived health was good or very good in 98.0 % of the households belonging to the first income quintile, rather than in 97.5 % of the households belonging to the fifth income quintile (see Figure 1).

Disability (activity limitations due to health problems)

1 % of EU children report having a severe disability

In the EU, 3.4 % of children had moderate disability and 1.0 % had severe disability^[1]. Across the EU Member States, the share of children with moderate limitation in activities due to health problems ranged from 7.9 % in Finland and 7.5 % in Denmark, down to the smallest share, 1.7 % in Romania.

As shown in the Figure 2, children with a reported severe disability were less than 2 % in all EU Member States, except in Belgium (2.0 %).

Figure 2: Children with disability, by level of disability, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch13)

In the EU, 94.8 % of children who lived in households where the income was below 60 % of the median equivalised income had no disability. This percentage was slightly higher (95.7 %) when considering children who lived in households where the income was above 60 % of the median equivalised income.

Therefore, considering both levels of disability (moderate and severe), in the EU, the percentage of children with moderate or severe disability, according to the two considered levels of income (that is 'above' and 'below' 60 % of median equivalised income), differed little: from 4.3 % in households with an income above 60 % of the median equivalised income, to 5.2 % in households with an income below this threshold.

As shown in the Figure 3, in slightly more than half of the EU Member States, a higher share of children with disability was found in households whose income falls below 60 % of the median equivalised income. The highest differences in this respect were found in the Netherlands (4.3 pp) and Portugal (4.0 pp).

On the other hand, in 12 countries, children belonging to households whose income was above 60 % of the median equivalised income reported a higher percentage of severe and moderate disability compared with children belonging to households whose income was below 60 % of the median equivalised income. The highest differences were found in Lithuania (5.8 pp) and Bulgaria (4.2 pp).

Figure 3: Children with 'moderate or severe' disability, by household income, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch13)

In the EU, children with moderate or severe disability were more likely to be in the age group 10 to 15 years (5.6 %) than in the age group 5 to 9 years (4.3 %) or in the age group 4 years or less (2.7 %). As shown in the Figure 4, this ranking holds for 20 Member States.

Figure 4: Children with 'moderate or severe' disability, by age group, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch13)

Unmet needs for medical care and dental care

Children living in households with an income below 60 % of the median equivalised income reported unmet needs for medical care more frequently

Figure 5: Children with unmet needs for medical care, by household income, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14)

In the EU and across the Member States, living in households with an income below 60 % of the median equivalised income implied for children a higher likelihood of having unmet needs for medical care^[2]. More specifically, in the EU, 3.3 % of children belonging to more affluent households and 5.0 % of children in households with income below 60 % of the median equivalised income reported unmet needs for medical examination or treatment.

As shown in Figure 5, this difference applied to most of the countries, the only exceptions being Czechia, France, Austria, and Slovenia.

Higher discrepancies between children living in families with incomes above and below 60 % of the median equivalised income were recorded in Hungary (11.0 pp) and the Netherlands (8.7 pp).

Figure 6: Children with unmet needs for dental care, by household income, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14)

In 2021, in the EU and across the Member States, living in households with an income below 60 % of the median equivalised income implied for children a higher likelihood of unmet needs for dental care^[3]. More specifically, in the EU, 3.4 % of children belonging to more affluent households and 9.0 % of children below 60 % of the median equivalised income reported unmet needs for dental care. As shown in Figure 6, this difference applied to most of the countries, the only exceptions being Estonia, Austria, Poland, Finland and Sweden.

At EU level, unmet needs for medical and dental care are higher among single adult households with dependent children

At EU level, the proportion of children with unmet needs for medical care was higher in households composed of one adult with dependent children (5.3 %) than in households with two or more adults with dependent children (3.4 %), as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Children with unmet needs for medical care, by household composition, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14)

Across the EU Member States, the households composed of one adult with dependent children reported a higher percentage of children with unmet needs for medical care in 18 Member States, with higher differences reported in the Netherlands (9.4 pp) and Poland (6.6 pp).

On the other hand, households composed of two or more adults with dependent children recorded a higher percentage of children with unmet needs for medical care in Latvia (a difference of 3.3 pp), Slovenia (2.4 pp), Estonia (2.0 pp), Bulgaria (1.7 pp) and Croatia (1.0 pp).

Figure 8: Children with unmet needs for dental care, by household composition, 2021
Source: Eurostat (ilc_hch14)

In the EU, 7.1 % of children living in households composed of one adult with dependent children were reported as having unmet needs for dental care (examination or treatment). This percentage dropped to 4.0 % when considering children living in households composed of two or more adults with dependent children (see Figure 8).

Across the EU Member States, households composed of one adult with dependent children presented higher percentages of children with unmet needs for dental care in almost every country. The exceptions were recorded in Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia and Sweden, where households composed of two or more adults with dependent children recorded a higher percentage of children with unmet needs for dental care.

Source data for tables and graphs

Download Excel file

Data sources

The data used in the article are derived from the 2021 rolling module of the EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC). 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.

The rolling module on children was included in the 2021 EU-SILC operation.

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).

Direct access to

Database

EU-SILC ad-hoc modules, see:

2017- Health including children health (ilc_hch)

Children by level of general health, household composition, quantile and age (ilc_hch12)

Children with limitation in activities due to health problems, by income group, household composition and age (ilc_hch13)

Children with unmet needs for medical examination or treatment by income group, household composition and degree of urbanisation (ilc_hch14)

Dedicated section

Publications

Ageing Europe – Looking at the lives of older people in the EU – 2020 edition

Methodology

SILC

Income and living conditions (ESMS metadata file – ilc_esms)
EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology

Legislation

The legal act for the EU-SILC (including children health) is available here.

Regulation (EU) No 2019/2242

External links

Notes

↑ The activity limitations of the child are assessed against typical activities in reference to that child's cohort. Activities cover all spectrums of activities: self-care and school, home and leisure activities. Temporary or short-term limitations are excluded. This means that a positive answer ('severely limited' or 'limited but not severely') should be recorded only if the child is currently limited and has been limited in activities for at least the past 6 months.
↑ Medical care refers to individual health care services (examinations or treatments) provided by or under direct supervision of medical doctors, traditional and complementary medical or equivalent professions according to national health care systems. Included is health care provided for different purposes (curative, rehabilitative, long-term health care) and by different modes of provision (inpatient, outpatient, day, and home care), medical mental health care, and preventive medical services. Excluded is taking prescribed or non-prescribed drugs, and dental care.
↑ Dental care refers to individual health care services (examination or treatment) provided by or under direct supervision of stomatologists (dentists). Included is health care provided by orthodontists, preventive dental services. Excluded are self-medication (taking prescribed or non-prescribed drugs) and medical care.

[1] The activity limitations of the child are assessed against typical activities in reference to that child's cohort. Activities cover all spectrums of activities: self-care and school, home and leisure activities. Temporary or short-term limitations are excluded. This means that a positive answer ('severely limited' or 'limited but not severely') should be recorded only if the child is currently limited and has been limited in activities for at least the past 6 months.

[2] Medical care refers to individual health care services (examinations or treatments) provided by or under direct supervision of medical doctors, traditional and complementary medical or equivalent professions according to national health care systems. Included is health care provided for different purposes (curative, rehabilitative, long-term health care) and by different modes of provision (inpatient, outpatient, day, and home care), medical mental health care, and preventive medical services. Excluded is taking prescribed or non-prescribed drugs, and dental care.

[3] Dental care refers to individual health care services (examination or treatment) provided by or under direct supervision of stomatologists (dentists). Included is health care provided by orthodontists, preventive dental services. Excluded are self-medication (taking prescribed or non-prescribed drugs) and medical care.

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