Health in Lithuania

[4] The suicide rate has been constantly decreasing since, but it still remains the highest in the EU and the OECD.

After independence in 1918 a health care system based on the Bismarck model began to develop.

[7] The deterioration in health which occurred during the first phase of social reforms was halted in 1994 and the standardized death rate decreased from 12.06 (per 1000 population) in 1994 to 10.16 in 1998.

[9] By 2000 the vast majority of Lithuanian health care institutions were non-profit-making enterprises and a private sector developed, providing mostly outpatient services which are paid for out-of-pocket.

There are 5 Territorial Health Insurance Funds, covering Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys.

[11] In 2016 225,510 people, about 8% of the population, had not paid their contributions to the National Health Insurance fund, but it was thought many were actually not in the country.

The insurance scheme does not cover adult dentistry or, for most people, outpatient prescription medicines.