(Brussels) In 2017, 8% of the European Union population could not afford to heat their homes sufficiently. This is according to Eurostat which collected the data as part of the annual EU survey on income and living conditions. On average, this share has fallen over the years since the peak (of 11%) in 2012, but worrying levels were recorded in Bulgaria (37%), Lithuania (29%), Greece (26%), Cyprus (23%), and Portugal (20%). In Italy, too, the share decreased, from 21% in 2012 to 15.2% in 2017. In Norway and Switzerland, the problem disappeared. In Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria, the share of those who could not afford to heat their homes was 2% of the population.