Cyprus residents faced continued difficulty affording a week-long annual holiday in 2025, with Eurostat data released on Thursday showing that 27.6 per cent of people aged 16 and over could not afford a one-week break away from home.

The figure placed Cyprus slightly above the European Union average, where 27.5 per cent of the population in the same age group were unable to afford a week’s annual holiday last year.

The share in Cyprus was significantly lower than in some southern European countries, with Greece recording the second-highest proportion in the EU at 46.6 per cent, while Romania topped the ranking with 61.4 per cent.

Bulgaria and Hungary followed, both reporting that 39.1 per cent of people were unable to afford a one-week holiday away from home in 2025.

Cyprus also compared favourably with neighbouring Turkey, where 50.5 per cent of people were unable to afford a week-long holiday, according to Eurostat figures.

Across the EU, the proportion of people unable to afford annual holidays increased slightly in 2025, rising by 0.5 percentage points compared with 2024.

However, the longer-term trend showed a notable improvement, with the share falling by 7.7 percentage points over the past decade, compared with 2015.

At the other end of the scale, Luxembourg recorded the lowest share of people unable to afford a one-week holiday at 10.6 per cent, followed by Sweden at 12.4 per cent and the Netherlands at 12.8 per cent.

The figures measure the proportion of the population aged 16 and over who reported being unable to afford a one-week annual holiday away from home, highlighting differences in household financial capacity across Europe.