Self-reported unmet need for medical examination and care by sex

This indicator measures the share of the population aged 16 and over reporting unmet needs for medical care due to one of the following reasons: ‘financial reasons’, ‘waiting list’ and ‘too far to travel’. Self-reported unmet needs concern a person’s own assessment of whether they needed medical examination or treatment (dental care excluded) but did not have it or did not seek it. Since social norms and expectations may affect responses to questions about unmet care needs, caution is required when comparing differences in the reporting of unmet medical examination across countries. In addition, the different organisation of health care services is another factor to consider when analysing the data. Finally, there are also some variations in the survey questions across countries and across time. The data stem from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).