In 2019, over one fifth of people in Cyprus said they could not afford to heat their homes adequately in winter, third worst across the bloc, according to Eurostat.

This was in comparison with only 6.9 per cent of people across the EU on average.

The highest rates of those who can’t afford to heat their homes were recorded in Bulgaria (30.1 per cent), Lithuania (26.7 per cent), Cyprus (21 per cent), Portugal (18.9 per cent) , Greece (17.9 per cent) and Italy (11.1 per cent).

The lowest rates were recorded in Finland, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Estonia and Germany at around 2 per cent.