Two-thirds of Bulgarians claim to be in good health

2010-02-02

The average Bulgarian spent BGN 30.74 (€15.71) on medicines in 2008, according to the European Core Health Interview Survey. In the two weeks before the survey, 34.6% of respondents had taken a prescribed medicine or dietary supplement. In the regions, this varies from 60.5% in Lovech to 26.3% in Burgas.
In 2008 more than two-thirds (68%) of Bulgarians regarded their health as good (replies of “good” and “very good”). This places Bulgaria in 10^th position for males and 9^th for females in the EU in terms of the condition of one’s health. Twenty percent of Bulgarians described their health as “satisfactory”, whereas 11.5% described theirs as poor (replies of “poor” and “very poor”).
37.5% admitted that they had a chronic condition or problem of some kind, with 23.3% suffering from hypertension. 24% of respondents claimed that they had been hospitalised at least once in 2008 (in contrast to 18% on average in the EU). Last year, 59.4% of respondents visited a GP and 31.5% a dentist; 45.1% of Bulgarians had a cholesterol test in 2008, and 45.8% a mammogram.
The European Core Health Interview Survey, which was carried out by the Bulgarian National Statistics Institute and supported by Eurostat, covered 8,393 participants over the age of 15.