Malta has the lowest rate of unmet dental care needs in the European Union, according to new Eurostat figures. In 2024, just 0.4% of Maltese residents aged 16 and over reported being unable to access dental treatment, compared with an EU average of 6.3%.
Across the bloc, the highest levels were registered in Greece (27.1%), Latvia (16.5%) and Romania (16.2%), where financial barriers, long waiting lists and distance from providers remain key obstacles.
The data also highlights how poverty drives inequality in access to care. EU-wide, 13.7% of people at risk of poverty reported unmet dental needs, compared to 5.1% of those not at risk. In Greece and Romania, over half of low-income individuals struggled to access dental care, creating gaps of more than 30 percentage points between poor and non-poor populations.
Malta, alongside Germany and Poland, recorded the narrowest divide between income groups, with a difference of just 1.5 percentage points. This suggests that access to dental care in Malta remains broadly equitable, regardless of economic status.
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