In 2019, asthma affected almost 6% of the EU population, a small increase compared with 2014 (+0.3 percentage points).
Among EU countries, Finland stood on the top of the list, with 9% of people reportingly having asthma, followed by Germany and France (both 8%). In contrast, only 2% of people in both Romania and Bulgaria reported having the condition.
Latvia also fared quite well, with 3.8% of people asthmatic, though the figure has increased from 3.5% in 2014.
Compared with 2014, Germany (+1.9 percentage points), Croatia (+1.8 pp), and Belgium (+1.5 pp) saw the number of people reporting to have asthma go up the most in 2019. On the other hand, Ireland (-1.7 pp), Greece (-1.1 pp) and France (-1.0 pp) registered the biggest decrease in people reporting this disease.
As in 2014, more women than men reported having asthma (6% vs. 5%) in 2019. The highest share of reported asthma among both sexes and all age intervals was found in women 65 and above (7%).
