Latvia Sees Significant Gains in Child Health Care Provision

In 2024, 3.2% of children in the EU aged 16 or less were reported to have unmet needs for medical care (examination and treatment), down from 3.6% in 2021. For dental care, 4.0% had unmet needs, compared with 4.4% in 2021. At national level, the highest shares of children with unmet needs for medical care were found in Finland (9.4%), followed by France (5.7%) and Ireland (5.0%). Meanwhile, the lowest shares were reported by Croatia and Malta (both 0.1%) and Cyprus (0.6%). Regarding children with unmet needs for dental care, Spain had the highest share (7.5%), followed by Finland (6.8%) and France (6.2%). At the other end of the scale, Croatia registered the lowest level (0.2%), ahead of Malta (0.5%) and Luxembourg (1.0%). In 2021, Latvia recorded a figure of 6.2% for unmet medical care needs – the second highest figure in the whole EU after Poland's 7.3%. But by 2024, that figure had fallen to 3.0%. However, it is also worth noting that back in 2017, Latvia recorded a lower figure still: 2.4%. Similarly, on dental care there has been a marked improvement. In 2021, 8.6% of minors had unmet dental care needs in Latvia (the highest figure in the EU). By 2024 this metric had halved to 4.1% – a reason to smile.