The financial burden of healthcare, focused on three types of expenditure: dental examinations or treatments, medical examinations or treatments, and prescribed and non-prescribed medicines. Respondent households where at least one person had used or needed the relevant healthcare type in the previous 12 months were asked to rate the extent to which the associated costs were a financial burden, with response options of a ‘heavy burden’, ‘somewhat of a burden’, or ‘not a burden at all’.
The results show this reported burden varies by household circumstances, such as poverty and deprivation status, income quintile, household composition, and medical card or GP visit card status, and also by selected characteristics of the household reference person, including age and self-reported general health status.
In 2025, more than one in three (35.5%) households where at least one person in the household had medical expenses in the past 12 months, reported that these costs were either a heavy (9.2%) or somewhat (26.3%) of a financial burden. This was a slight increase from 2022, when the equivalent figure was 33.1%.
The proportion of households that reported dental expenses as a financial burden increased from 28.3% in 2022 to 33.4% in 2025. Over the same period, the proportion of households that reported medicine costs as a financial burden also rose, from 24.0% to 28.1%.
In 2025, medical expenses at 26.3% were the healthcare cost most commonly reported as ‘somewhat of a financial burden’. However, dental expenses were most commonly reported as a ‘heavy financial burden’, reported as such by 10.1% of households, compared with 9.2% for medical expenses and 6.1% for medicine costs.
Overall, almost two thirds (64.4%) of households reported no financial burden from medical expenses in 2025. The corresponding figures for dental expenses and medicines costs were 66.5% and 71.9%, respectively. See figure 2.1 and table 2.1.
The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) reports three key measures of poverty and deprivation, enforced deprivation, at risk of poverty and consistent poverty. Further details are available in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions Fact Sheet.
In 2025, households experiencing enforced deprivation were more likely to report that healthcare expenses were a greater financial burden than households not experiencing deprivation. More than one in three (35.2%) households experiencing enforced deprivation, in which at least one person had a dental examination or treatment in the last 12 months, reported that the associated costs were a ‘heavy financial burden’, compared with 6.1% of households not experiencing deprivation.
For medical examinations or treatments in the last 12 months, 23.1% of deprived households reported that the associated costs were a ‘heavy financial burden’, compared with 6.8% of households not experiencing deprivation. For medicines, the corresponding figures were 17.7% for deprived households and 4.0% for households not experiencing deprivation.
When both heavy burden and somewhat of a burden responses are considered, 65.1% of households experiencing deprivation reported that dental expenses were a burden in 2025, compared with 28.4% of those not experiencing deprivation. The corresponding proportions for medical expenses were 50.4% and 33.0%, while for medicine expenses they were 51.1% and 24.0%, respectively.
A similar pattern was observed by consistent poverty status. In 2025, 60.1% of households in consistent poverty reported that dental expenses were a burden, compared with 32.4% of households not in consistent poverty. The gap was widest for dental expenses reported as a heavy financial burden, at 34.8% for those in consistent poverty and 9.1% for those not in consistent poverty. See figure 2.2 and table 2.1.
Households are ranked by nominal net disposable household income, including social welfare payments, and divided into five equal groups, or quintiles. The first quintile represents the 20% of households with the lowest equivalised disposable income, while the fifth quintile represents the 20% with the highest.
In 2025, the proportion of households that reported medical expenses were a financial burden, either a heavy burden or somewhat of a burden, was highest among households in the third income quintile, at 42.3%. The first income quintile had the smallest proportion of household indicating a financial burden from medical expenses with 29.5% reporting that these expenses were a financial burden, followed by households in the fifth quintile, at 30.1%. The proportions in the second and fourth quintiles were 38.5% and 38.0% respectively.
Healthcare card status was associated with differences in the reported burden of healthcare costs. In 2025, 31.3% of households with a medical card and 36.0% of households with a GP visit card reported a financial burden from medical expenses, compared with 37.7% of households without either card.
For dental expenses, the share of households that reported a heavy financial burden was highest in the second income quintile, at 13.5%, compared with 4.9% in the fifth quintile. Dental expenses were reported as a financial burden by almost one third of households without a medical or GP visit card, at 32.5%, and by 32.0% of households with a GP visit card. This compared with 36.1% of households with a medical card.
For the cost of medicine, the highest rate of heavy financial burden for medicine expenses was reported by households in the second income quintile, at 8.8%, while the lowest was recorded in the fifth quintile, at 3.0%. Households in the fifth income quintile were most likely to report no financial burden from medicine expenses, at 78.9%. This compared with 69.0% in the second quintile and 65.2% in the third quintile. See figure 2.3 and table 2.2
More than one third (34.0%) of households with a GP visit card reported medicine costs as a financial burden, compared with 24.4% of households with a medical card and 29.3% of households without a medical or GP visit card. See PxStat table SILCH08.
In 2025, one-adult households with children aged under 18 years were most likely to report dental expenses as a heavy burden, at 27.7%. The next highest figure was recorded among two-adult households with one to three children, at 14.2%.
Medical expenses followed a similar pattern. The share of households that reported medical expenses as a heavy burden was highest among one-adult households with children aged under 18 years, at 25.6%. This household type also recorded the highest reported financial burden from medicine costs, at 13.4%.
One-adult households where the adult was aged 65 years or over were least likely to report a burden from medicine expenses. In 2025, 83.5% reported no burden from medicine expenses, compared with 59.1% of one-adult households with children aged under 18 years. See figure 2.4 and table 2.3.
In 2025, households where the reference person was aged 35 to 49 years were most likely to report a financial burden from dental expenses, 40.7% reported that these expenses were either a heavy or somewhat of a burden. The least likely households to report a financial burden from dental care were those where the reference person was aged 65 years and over, at 22.9%.
Medical expenses followed a similar pattern with 43.7% of households where the reference person was aged 35 to 49 years reported medical expenses as a financial burden. This compared with 29.4% of households where the reference person was aged 65 years and over. For the medicine costs, the equivalent figures were 33.3% and 19.0%, for respective age groups.
Between 2022 and 2025, the share of households which reported dental expenses as a heavy burden increased across all age groups. The largest increase was among households where the reference person was aged 35 to 49 years, rising from 9.2% to 14.4%. The smallest increase was among households where the reference person was aged 50 to 64 years, where the reported heavy burden increased from 9.5% to 10.0%. See figure 2.5 and table 2.4.
Self-perceived general health is a personal variable while financial burden of healthcare is a household level variable. To analyse the relationship between the two indicators a general health status is attributed to each respondent household according to the person in the household, aged 16 years and older, with the worst self-perceived general health status.
In 2025, households were more likely to report healthcare expenses as a burden where the attributed general health of the household was bad or very bad, compared with households where the health status was good or very good. Medical expenses were reported as a heavy burden or somewhat of a financial burden by 45.6% of households with bad general health and 55.4% with very bad health. This compared with 31.7% and 27.1%, respectively, among households with good or very good health status.
The relationship was particularly evident for medicine expenses. In 2025, almost half (48.5%) of households with a bad general health status, and 45.8%, with very bad health. This compared with 25.1% and 18.4% of households with good and very good general health, respectively.
For dental expenses, 41.2% of households in the bad health category reported an associated financial burden in 2025, compared with 26.3% households in the very good health category. See figure 2.6 and table 2.5.
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