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Cyprus

Home » Countries » Cyprus
Current Health Expenditure (CHE) as % Gross Domestic Product (GDP)8.9%CHE/GDP
Out-of-pocket (OOPS) spending as % of Current Health Expenditure (CHE)14.6%OOP/CHE
Domestic General Government Health Expenditure (GGHE-D) as % General Government Expenditure (GGE)18.3%GGHE-D/GGE
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in constant (2020) US$ in millions (M), billions (B), or trillions (T)29BGDP (USD)
Population in thousands (K), millions (M) or billions (B)904.7KPopulation
Self-reported unmet need for medical care by sex (Total)0.1%Unmet Needs - Total
Self-reported unmet need for medical care by sex (Female)0.2%Unmet Needs - Female
Self-reported unmet need for medical care by sex (Male)0.1%Unmet Needs - Male
Cyprus, a European Union (EU) and Eurozone country, is an island republic with a population of 904,705 in 2022. The life expectancy at birth in Cyprus in 2022 stood at 81.7 years, which is one year higher than the average for the EU. The leading causes of death are diseases of the circulatory system and malignant tumours. More than three quarters of the Cypriot population (78 %) report being in good health, exceeding the EU average (68 %).[1]

Universal coverage through the General Healthcare System

Since 2019 the Cypriot health system has been financed by state revenues and contributions levied through wages, incomes and pensions. It is a blended system, incorporating both national health service financing and social health insurance that offers universal population coverage for all legal residents.
Before 2019, the old system covered only about three quarters of the population. Under the new General Healthcare System (GESY), the Health Insurance Organisation serves as the single purchaser of services from both public and private providers. The State Healthcare Services Organisation is responsible for the development, management, control and supervision of providers in the public sector.
The GESY has reduced fragmentation and brought together the public and private sectors under a single agency, creating a new and competitive health services environment. Physical resources are split between hospitals and health care centres in the public sector, and hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, laboratories and pharmacies in the private sector. Gatekeeping in primary care is also a key feature of the system design. Primary care is provided mostly by privately contracted family doctors in solo practice and some doctors working in public health care centres.

A shift from private to public spending

Despite a steady increase in spending in recent years, Cyprus still spends less on health in total than other EU countries. In 2021, Cyprus spent 9.4% on health as a share of GDP compared to the EU average of 11%. The public share of health spending has increased from 42% in 2018 to 85.3 % in 2021, since the introduction of the GESY in 2019.
The preventable mortality rate and rate of mortality from treatable causes is low, and routine immunization rates are high. Unmet needs are low, compared to other EU countries, despite that spending on prevention and health promotion in Cyprus is the lowest in the EU.

All legal residents are entitled to healthcare

The GESY provides a comprehensive benefits package covering primary, specialist outpatient and inpatient care. To ensure financial access to medicines beneficiaries pay a flat copayment of only EUR 1 for the lowest-priced generic equivalent of a prescribed medicine. If patients wish to obtain the brand-name medicine, they pay the price difference between the generic and the branded product.

Out-of-pocket (OOP) spending has fallen considerably with the extension of coverage and increased availability of health providers under the GESY. In 2019, OOP spending was 34% – more than double the 15% EU average. By 2020 it had fallen to 18%, and by 2021 it was at 10%. [1]

The introduction of the GESY enabled the Health Insurance Organisation to contract with private providers. This has relieved some of the capacity constraints in inpatient care and reduced the backlog of patients on waiting lists.[2]

References

[1] OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023), Cyprus: Country Health Profile 2023, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/43898784-en

[2] Theodorou M, Charalambous C, Petrou C, Cylus J. Cyprus: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition. 2012; 14(6):1–128

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