Cyprus’ Fire Protection Spending Remains Low
Eurostat data show Cyprus dedicating 0.4% of government expenditure to fire protection.
In 2023, Cyprus ranked 14th in the European Union in terms of government expenditure on fire protection, allocating 0.4% of its total spending to this sector, according to Eurostat.
With this share, Cyprus was positioned behind 13 EU member states, matched the percentage of nine others, and exceeded four countries.
Cyprus dedicated €46.4 million to fire protection in 2023, representing 0.4% of its general government expenditure. The EU average stood slightly higher at 0.5%.
Romania recorded the highest share at 0.9%, followed by Estonia and Greece with 0.7% each. At the other end, Denmark allocated only 0.1%, while Malta (0.2%), Austria (0.3%), and Portugal (0.3%) also fell below the EU average.
Overall, EU governments spent €40.6 billion on fire protection services in 2023, marking an 8.5% increase compared with 2022 (€37.4 billion). However, the overall share of fire protection in government budgets has remained stable at 0.5% since 2017, as growth in this area paralleled increases in other sectors.
For Cyprus, the 2023 figure represented an increase from 2022, when fire protection accounted for 0.3% of expenditure, or €38.7 million.
Although Eurostat noted that Cyprus’s 2024 data are of “low reliability,” the country appears to have ranked 6th in the EU, alongside Poland, in the proportion of firefighters relative to total employment—0.28% of the workforce. In 2024, Cyprus employed 1,300 firefighters out of a total workforce of 487,000.
Across the EU, there were 390,600 professional firefighters in 2024, representing 0.19% of total employment, up by 28,200 compared to 2023.
Among 20 EU countries with available data, Croatia recorded the highest share of firefighters at 0.45%, followed by Greece (0.41%) and the Czech Republic (0.34%). The lowest shares were found in the Netherlands (0.07%), Denmark (0.08%), and Sweden (0.1%).
Eurostat data also highlight the age structure of the profession. In 2024, 75.2% of EU firefighters were aged 15–49, compared with 64.8% of the total workforce falling within the same age group.
