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Health costs, 8% of Albanians cannot afford examinations, second highest in Europe

2026-09-23 08:39:00 / EKONOMI&SOCIALE ALFA PRESS
Health costs, 8% of Albanians cannot afford examinations, second highest in

Albania is among the European countries where cost is the biggest barrier to citizens getting the healthcare they need. In 2024, 8% of the population aged 16 and over reported not having had a necessary medical examination because it was too expensive.

In the latest available Eurostat data, only Greece has a higher level, with 8.8% in 2025. The European Union average for 2025 was just 1%.

After Greece and Albania, the gap is large. In 2025, the inability to afford the examination affected 2.5% of the population in Latvia, 2% in Romania, 1.9% in France and 1.6% in Italy.

Cost remains the main obstacle in Albania

In Albania, in 2024, in addition to the 8% who could not afford the cost, 1.5% stated that they had not received the examination due to the waiting list and 0.2% because the service was too far away. Together, the three accounted for 9.8% of the population.

By comparison, in the EU in 2025 only 1% of the population reported cost as a barrier. Waiting lists were a reason for 1.2% of the EU population and distance from the service for 0.1%. Taken together, these three barriers affected 2.4% of the EU population.

From lack of time to fear of the doctor

Detailed Eurostat data shows that barriers to receiving care in Albania are not limited to the healthcare system.

In 2024, 2% of the population aged 16 and over stated that they had not had the screening because they preferred to wait to see if the problem would improve on its own. This was the second most common reason after cost, if all stated reasons are considered separately.

Lack of time was also a significant barrier. About 1.8% of the population stated that they had not had time to get tested, up from 1.6% in 2023 and 1.5% in 2022.

A smaller portion of citizens, 0.2%, stated fear of the doctor, hospital, examination or treatment as the reason, while 0.1% reported not knowing a good doctor or specialist. Another 1% cited other reasons.

When considering all reasons reported by Eurostat, not just cost, distance and waiting, 85.1% of Albanians declared in 2024 that they had no unmet need for medical examination and 14.9% had reported an unmet need for at least one of the reasons included in the survey.

Albania far above the region for financial barrier

Even in relation to the Western Balkans, Albania has the highest rate of not taking examinations due to cost.

In Serbia, where data for 2025 are already available, only 1.1% of the population reported that the examination was too expensive. For North Macedonia, the latest available value is 1.2% in 2024, while for Montenegro it was 0.3% in the same year.

For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the latest data is 0.4% and belongs to 2023, while for Kosovo there is no data in the series used.

Low costs and high out-of-pocket payments

The high level of non-observance of examinations due to cost coincides with low healthcare consumption in Albania and a much higher financial burden that falls directly on families.

Other Eurostat data showed that individual consumption for healthcare in Albania was 662 euros per capita in 2025, compared to an average of 3,675 euros in the EU. Even after eliminating the effect of price differences, real consumption of healthcare goods and services in Albania was only about 40% of the European average.

According to the World Bank, in 2023, 48.27% of current health expenditures in Albania were paid directly by households, the highest level in Europe. In the EU, out-of-pocket payments accounted for an average of only 14.9% of health expenditures.

Domestic public sources financed about 49.6% of current healthcare expenditures in Albania, while in the EU mandatory insurance schemes and government schemes together covered 80.6% of the bill.

Methodology
The data are based on the Eurostat indicator on self-reported unmet need for medical examination, by main reason stated. The survey includes as reasons cost, distance and waiting lists, but also lack of time, not knowing a suitable doctor or specialist, fear of the doctor, hospital, examination or treatment, waiting to see if the problem improves on its own and other reasons.

The indicator refers to the population aged 16 and over and is based on the person's own assessment of whether they needed medical examination or care, but did not receive or seek it.

For Albania, the latest data in the Eurostat table is for 2024. For the EU, Greece and other countries where 2025 data is available, 2025 was used for comparison. For countries where 2025 is missing, the latest available year was used and the year is specified in the text. /Monitor

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