Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons (i07)
- 31/10/2025
- objective
- assessment
In 2024, 1.1% of the population aged 16 or over in Belgium, reported unmet needs for medical care due to financial reasons in the last twelve months. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must be reduced to zero. This objective will not be reached by continuing the trend since 2004 (assessment of November 2025). The unmet needs for medical care due to financial reasons are therefore developing unfavourably.
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons - Belgium - trend assessment
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2023 | 2025 | 2030 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| observations | -- | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.2 | -- | 0.9 | -- | -- |
| trend and extrapolation (November 2025) | -- | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| objective 2030 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Note: break in series: 2019
Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Self-reported unmet needs for medical examination by sex, age, detailed reason and income quintile, hlth_silc_08, https://ec.europa.eu/Statbel; Eurostat , last update of data 10/10/2025 11:00:00 (consulted on 10/10/2025)
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons - Belgium and international comparison
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.1 | -9.4 | -0.4 |
| EU27 | -- | -- | 2.3 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.1 | -- |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in series: BE 2019; BE 2020 data collection impacted by Covid-19 pandemic. The 95% confidence interval for the share of people that declare to delay or cancel medical care for financial reasons in 2024 is 0.9% to 1.4% for Belgium.
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025); Statbel (2025), direct communication 18/11/2025; Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Self-reported unmet needs for medical examination by sex, age, detailed reason and income quintile, hlth_silc_08, https://ec.europa.eu/Statbel; Eurostat , last update of data 10/10/2025 11:00:00 (consulted on 10/10/2025)
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons by region - Belgium and international comparison
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brussels-Capital Region | 3.9 | 3.5 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 2.5 | -8.5 |
| Flemish Region | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | -19.7 |
| Walloon Region | 2.7 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.2 | -4.0 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | |||||||
Note: break in series: 2019. The 95% confidence interval for the share of people that declare to delay or cancel medical care for financial reasons in 2024 is 1.6% to 3.3% for Brussels, 0.1% to 0.6% for Flanders and 1.5% to 2.9% for Wallonia.
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025); Statbel (2025), direct communication 18/11/2025
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons, by sex - Belgium
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| females | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.3 | -8.3 | -0.4 |
| males | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | -7.8 | -0.5 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in series: 2019
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025)
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons, by age - Belgium
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | -9.7 | 3.5 |
| 25-49 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.2 | -8.8 | -1.1 |
| 50-64 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.7 | -5.9 | 0.6 |
| >64 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | -12.9 | -0.7 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in series: 2019
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025)
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons, by education - Belgium
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| at most lower secondary | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.2 | -3.3 | 0.2 |
| upper secondary | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 1.2 | -9.7 | 1.4 |
| tertiary | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | -11.1 | -0.9 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in series: 2019
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025)
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons, by household type - Belgium
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| single person | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.0 | -2.5 | 0.9 |
| single-parent family | 3.9 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 8.3 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 1.7 | -11.9 | -4.1 |
| 2 adults <65 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.8 | -11.8 | -2.8 |
| 2 adults, at least 1 >64 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | -22.2 | -2.0 |
| 2 adults + child(ren) | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.4 | -21.0 | -4.5 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in series: 2019
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025)
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons, by activity status - Belgium
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| employed | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | -4.4 | 1.4 |
| unemployed | 4.3 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 7.5 | 6.8 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 2.9 | -10.7 | -1.9 |
| retired | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.7 | -11.6 | -1.2 |
| other inactive | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 2.3 | -7.5 | 0.7 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in series: 2019; because of the widespread use of temporary unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ?unemployed? category in SILC 2021 includes not only the long-term unemployed, but also people who have been temporarily unemployed for more than 6 months and who generally live in less precarious conditions.
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025)
Postponement or cancellation of health care for financial reasons, by income - Belgium
in the last twelve months
percentage of population aged 16 and over
| 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 | 2024//2019 | 2024//2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quintile 1 | 3.8 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 6.9 | 6.3 | 4.9 | 4.4 | 2.7 | -11.2 | -1.7 |
| quintile 2 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 1.6 | -9.3 | 0.3 |
| quintile 3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | -2.1 | 2.0 |
| quintile 4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | -9.7 | 2.0 |
| quintile 5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | -- | 3.5 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Note: break in series: 2019
Source: Statbel (2025), SILC-SDG-indicators 2004-2024, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion (consulted on 06/10/2025)
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.
The following breakdowns are available for this indicator: region, sex, income, age, education, household type and activity status.
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).
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
-
Belgian Official Gazette: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl; research on http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/doc/rech_f.htm.
- 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 19/12/2025).
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