Definition: the share of the population aged 16 or over that reports unmet needs for medical care due to financial reasons in the last twelve months. The data are based on the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (EU-SILC) of the European Union, which gauges, among other things, self-reported unmet needs for medical examination because they are too expensive. Statbel organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. The data used here come from Eurostat, which publishes detailed and comparable results between EU Member States. For Belgium, data from 2011 are used. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty must be taken into account. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request from Statbel.

From 2019 onwards, the survey methodology has been thoroughly reviewed for better accuracy. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted data collection. This makes it difficult to compare the results of SILC 2020 with those of previous years. (Statbel, 2021). Therefore, they are not used to calculate and evaluate the long-term trend.

Goal: Postponement or cancellation of health care must be reduced to zero.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 1.4: “By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance”.

The Federal Long-Term Strategic Vision for Sustainable Development includes objective 5: “quality health care will be accessible to all and in particular to vulnerable groups (people with disabilities, vulnerable populations, women of childbearing age and pregnant women and children etc.)” (Belgian Official Gazette, 08/10/2013).

International comparison: in the EU27 this share equaled in 2010 and 2011 to 2.3 and 2,7% respectively. It decreased till 1% in 2021. Belgium's evolution between 2011 and 2021 is less favourable than that of the EU27 (it decreased from 1,4% to 1.2%). In 2022 this share equaled to 0,9% in Belgium. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with the poorest performance in 2021. In that year Finland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden and the Tchech Republic ranked first with 0% and Greece last with 5,7%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator does not correspond to any monitoring indicator for the SDGs but is related to UN target 1.4., since it measures access to health services for people confronted with financial problems.

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• Specific

  • Belgian Official Gazette: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl; research on http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/doc/rech_f.htm (consulted on 24/09/2020).

  • Statbel (2021), SILC FAQ, https://statbel.fgov.be/fr/themes/menages/pauvrete-et-conditions-de-vie/faq, see in particular "Y a-t-il des ruptures de séries dans la chronologie de l'enquête SILC ?" (consulted on 19/11/2021)

More information is available in French and Dutch.