Nearly 25% of EU households had at least 1 child in 2024

In 2024, in the EU, there were nearly 202 million private households. Slightly less than a quarter of those (23.6%) included children, whereas 76.4% did not. 

The highest shares of households with children were in Slovakia (35.6%), Ireland (31.0%) and Cyprus (28.6%). By contrast, the lowest shares were registered in Finland (18.0%), Lithuania (19.6%) and Germany (20.1%).

Source dataset: lfs_hhnhtych

Households with children: 1 child is the most common

In 2024, almost half (49.8%) of households with children in the EU had 1 child, 37.6% had 2 children, and 12.6% had 3 or more children. Households with 1 child were predominant in all EU countries, except in the Netherlands, where the share of households with 2 children was higher.

Households with 3 children or more were the least common across all EU countries. Their percentage among all households with children ranged from 20.6% in Ireland, 18.1% in Sweden and 17.4% in Finland, to 6.2% in Portugal, 6.4% in Bulgaria and 7.6% in Italy. 

Source dataset: lfst_hhnhtych