One in five people in Cyprus said they were unable to keep their home adequately warm last year, a Eurostat survey showed on Friday.

Cyprus ranked third to last as 21 per cent of residents said they could not afford to heat their homes in 2020, preceded only by Lithuania with 23 per cent and Bulgaria with 27 per cent.

Many people in Greece and Portugal also cannot afford heating, as both countries scored 17 per cent according to the EU-wide survey.

The situation varied across EU member states, with the EU average at eight per cent.

The lowest shares, around two per cent, were recorded in Austria, Finland, Czechia and the Netherlands.

Despite the high share of the population saying they cannot afford heating, this is an improvement for the island.

Fifteen years ago, when the data were first recorded, the situation in the country was far more unpleasant, with 33.8 per cent of people saying they could not heat their homes.

To further ease the situation, cabinet on Thursday decided to reduce VAT from 19 per cent to 5 per cent on electricity bills for vulnerable groups for six months. This is in addition to the 20 per cent discount that special vulnerable groups are already entitled to.

The VAT discount decision is in line with European Commission recommendations and will come into force as soon as it is approved by the EU.

Electricity bills will also see a 10 per cent across-the-board reduction for four months.