Increased numbers seeking health information online

Three out of four Cypriots aged 16-74 seek health information online, the fourth highest share among the EU 27, according to a Eurostat survey.

Numbers are on the rise, with Cyprus also reporting the highest increase in searching for health information online in the past decade with a 46-percentage point jump.

Eurostat said that in the last three months prior to the 2021 survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals, one in two EU citizens (55 per cent) aged 16-74 reported that they had sought online health information related to injury, disease, nutrition, improving health or similar.

Numbers varied across EU member states. In 2021, the highest share was recorded in Finland, where 80 per cent of people aged 16-74 searched online for health-related topics in the last three months prior to the survey, followed by the Netherlands (77 per cent), Denmark (75 per cent) and Cyprus (74 per cent).

In contrast, the lowest shares were observed in Bulgaria (36 per cent) and Romania (40 per cent), followed by Germany (45 per cent) and Poland (47 per cent).

Over the last decade, the share of individuals seeking health information online has risen in almost all EU member states with an increase of 17 pp in the EU from 2011 (38 per cent). The highest increases in the number of people looking for health information online were recorded in Cyprus (+46 pp), followed by Czechia (+33 pp), Malta (+32 pp) and Spain (+31 pp).