Living Conditions Survey (LCS)

Health module

81.3% of people aged 16 or over visited a family doctor in 2025, 58.7% visited a specialist and 55.0% visited a dentist in the 12 months prior to the interview. These percentages exceed those recorded in 2022 by 3.7, 2.9 and 3.1 points, respectively.

Considering the level of income, the percentages showed few differences in visits to the family doctor (79.3% in low-income households, compared to 81.2% in high-income households).

In contrast, visits to specialists or dentists did show significant variations, as people with higher incomes visited these more frequently than those with lower incomes (68.1% versus 50.4% in the case of specialists, and 67.4% versus 42.3% in the case of dentists).

In 2025 healthcare expenses (family doctor or specialists) were a heavy burden for 8.4% of households, up from 7.0% in 2022. The burden of spending on medicines decreased to 6.7%, down from 6.9% in 2022.

For its part, the burden of dental care expenses increased 1.7 points, from 17.0% of households in 2022 to 18.7% in 2025. 

By income level, 7.9% of high-income households felt a heavy burden of health care expenses, compared with 8.8% of low-income households.

The same was true for dental care or medication costs. For lower-income households it was a greater burden than for high-income households (20.2% compared to 13.3% for dental care and 8.5% compared to 4.2% for medications).

Obesity affected 14.7% of the population aged 16 and over in 2025, the same percentage as in 2022. 35.8% were overweight, one tenth more than in 2022.

By income level, obesity affected people with low incomes more (17.3%) than those with high incomes (10.8%). Similarly, being overweight affected people with low incomes more (36.9%) than people with high incomes (33.3%).

A total of 63.2% of people aged 16 and over claimed to eat fruit daily in 2025, compared to 67.1% in 2022.

The consumption of vegetables, salad or legumes also fell: 47.7% of the population aged 16 and over claimed to consume vegetables daily, 3.3 points less than in 2022.

According to income level, people with higher incomes showed a higher frequency of daily fruit intake (68.9%) than those with lower incomes (57.4%). The same occurred with the consumption of vegetables, salads or legumes (51.5% versus 46.0%).

The Living Conditions Survey (LCS) is an annual statistical operation aimed at households which is conducted in all European Union countries. It is a harmonised statistic supported by Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 which establishes a common framework for European statistics related to people and households, based on individual data collected from samples.   

The Living Conditions Survey (LCS) includes various modules each year, harmonised at the European level, for an in-depth study of different aspects of the life of households. The 2025 edition included a health module. Similar modules were included in previous editions, which allowed the changes that occurred to be understood in greater detail.

The 2025 LCS was carried out by the National Statistics Institute (INE) in collaboration with the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (IDESCAT) within the scope of the autonomous community.

Type of survey:

Annual.

Collection period:

February to May 2025.

Sample size:

The effective sample is made up of about 72,000 people.

Sample type:

A panel survey in which the people interviewed collaborate for four consecutive years. It’s a stratified two-stage sampling process. The first stage units are the census tracts and the second stage units are the inhabited family dwellings.

Collection method:

Online, by phone interview, or in person.

More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.  

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.