Albania is among the European countries where cost most hinders citizens from getting the healthcare they need. In 2024, 8% of the population aged 16 and over reported that they had not undergone a necessary medical examination because it was too expensive.
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In the latest available Eurostat data, only Greece has a higher level, at 8.8% in 2025. The European Union average for 2025 was only 1%.
After Greece and Albania, the gap is wide. In 2025, the inability to afford the examination financially affected 2.5% of the population in Latvia, 2% in Romania, 1.9% in France, and 1.6% in Italy.
Cost remains the main barrier in Albania
In Albania, in 2024, aside from the 8% who could not afford the cost, 1.5% stated they had not received the examination due to waiting lists and 0.2% because the service was too far away. Together, these three reasons accounted for 9.8% of the population.
For 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 show that barriers to accessing care in Albania are not limited to the healthcare system.
In 2024, 2% of the population aged 16 and over stated they had not undergone the examination because they preferred to wait and see if the problem would improve on its own. This was the second most frequent reason after cost, when taking all stated reasons separately.
Lack of time was also a significant barrier. About 1.8% of the population said they had not had time to undergo the examination, up from 1.6% in 2023 and 1.5% in 2022.
A smaller share of citizens, 0.2%, cited fear of the doctor, hospital, examination, or treatment as the reason, while 0.1% reported not knowing a good doctor or specialist. Another 1% mentioned other reasons.
When all reasons reported by Eurostat are considered, not just cost, distance, and waiting, 85.1% of Albanians stated in 2024 that they had no unmet need for a medical examination, and 14.9% reported an unmet need for at least one of the reasons included in the survey.
Albania far above the region for financial barrier
Even compared to the Western Balkans, Albania has the highest level of forgone examinations due to cost.
In Serbia, for which 2025 data are now 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 is 0.3% in the same year.
For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the latest figure is 0.4% and dates back to 2023, while for Kosovo there are no data in the series used.
Low spending and high out-of-pocket payments
The high level of forgone examinations due to cost coincides with low healthcare consumption in Albania and a much higher financial burden falling directly on households.
Other Eurostat data indicate that individual healthcare consumption in Albania was €662 per capita in 2025, against an EU average of €3,675. Even after eliminating the effect of price differences, real consumption of health 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 expenditure in Albania was paid directly by households, the highest level in Europe. In the EU, out-of-pocket payments made up an average of only 14.9% of health spending.
Domestic public sources financed around 49.6% of current health expenditure in Albania, while in the EU, compulsory insurance schemes and government schemes together covered 80.6% of the bill.
Methodology
The data are based on the Eurostat indicator for self-reported unmet needs 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 an examination or medical care but did not receive or seek it.
For Albania, the latest data in the Eurostat table are for 2024. For the EU, Greece, and other countries where 2025 data are available, the comparison uses 2025. For countries where 2025 is missing, the latest available year has been used and the year is specified in the text./Monitor
