Migrant integration statistics - housing

Data extracted on 10 September 2025.

Planned article update: October 2026.

Highlights

In 2024, the home ownership rate among nationals (73.6%) was more than 3 times higher than that of non-EU citizens (22.9%) and nearly twice as high as that of citizens of other EU countries (37.0%).

In 2024, 33.0% of non-EU citizens lived in overcrowded housing; for citizens of other EU countries, the share was 19.8%, while for nationals it was 13.7%.

In 2024, the housing cost overburden rate stood at 18.8% for non-EU citizens, compared with 16.1% for citizens of other EU countries and 7.6% for nationals.

This article presents European statistics for 3 main housing indicators: home ownership, overcrowding and housing cost overburden rates. These rates are analysed according to an individual’s citizenship.

The data presented in this article come from the EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) and the analysis is done for the population aged 18 years and over. This article forms part of the online publication on migrant integration statistics. The three indicators are also visualized in the Migrant Integration and Inclusion Dashboard.

Home ownership rate

Between 2015 and 2024, home ownership was more common among nationals than among foreign citizens, both from other EU countries and non-EU countries (Figure 1). Over this period, the ownership rate among nationals increased slightly, from 72.7% in 2015 to 73.6% in 2024. By contrast, it fluctuated around 40% for other EU citizens, settling at 37.0% in 2024, and declined steadily for non-EU citizens, from 31.7% in 2015 to 22.9% in 2024, thereby further widening the gap with nationals.

Figure 1

In 2024, in the EU, the home ownership rate remained high among nationals (Figure 2), with the highest rates recorded in Romania (94.4%) and Slovakia (94.1%), and the lowest in Germany (52.3%), Denmark (60.2%) and Austria (61.2%).

For non-EU citizens, home ownership varied widely across countries, with highest rates in Bulgaria (82.3%) and Latvia (78.1%) and particularly low rates in Austria (14.8%), Slovenia (15.8%), and Germany (16.3%).

Citizens of other EU countries generally had higher ownership rates than non-EU citizens, with exceptions in Ireland (35.9% for non-EU citizens, compared with 35.4% for other EU countries) and Latvia (78.1% compared with 75.8%). In Poland, the highest home ownership rate was recorded among citizens of other EU countries (90.1%) rather than among nationals (87.9%), while in Slovakia, the rate for other EU citizens was equal to that of nationals (94.1%).

Figure 2

Overcrowding rate

Between 2015 and 2024, in the EU, the overcrowding rate remained considerably higher among non-EU citizens than among nationals and citizens of other EU countries (Figure 3). Over the decade, the overcrowding rate for nationals declined slightly (from 15.7% in 2015 to 13.7% in 2024), while for non-EU citizens it increased (from 31.7% in 2015 to 33.0% in 2024), peaking in 2021 (35.9%), before returning to lower levels. At the start of the period, overcrowding rate for citizens of other EU countries (16.1%) was similar to that of nationals (15.7%). Over the decade, however, the rate of citizens of other EU countries increased to 19.8% in 2024, moderately increasing the gap between the 2 groups.

Figure 3

Figure 4 shows that in 2024, in the EU, the overcrowding rate was highest among non-EU citizens in Romania (61.6%) and Poland (58.0%), and lowest in Ireland (4.4%) and Cyprus (7.0%). Among nationals, highest rates were recorded in Romania (35.6%) and Latvia (35.4%), with lowest in Cyprus (1.3%) and Malta (2.4%). For citizens of other EU countries, overcrowding rates were highest in Slovakia (49.9%) and Latvia (44.4%), and lowest in Malta (0.6%) and Hungary (4.2%).

When availability of data allows comparison between the 3 groups, the overcrowding rate was generally highest among non-EU citizens, except in Ireland, Croatia and Latvia, where the highest rates were observed among citizens of other EU countries. Conversely, lowest rates were usually among nationals, except in Malta and Portugal, where the lowest rates were among other EU citizens, and in Croatia, where the lowest rates were observed among non-nationals. The greatest variation between the groups was observed in Poland, Austria and Sweden.

Figure 4

Housing cost overburden rate

Between 2015 and 2024, the housing cost overburden rate remained consistently higher among foreign citizens than among nationals (Figure 5). In the EU, the housing cost overburden rate for nationals gradually declined in the first part of the period, from 10.7% in 2015 to 7.2% in 2020, before stabilizing at 7.6% in 2024. Non-EU citizens faced higher and more fluctuating rates, showing a clear downward trend from 27.1% in 2015 to 18.8% in 2024. Citizens of other EU countries experienced a decline from 21.1% in 2015 to 16.1% in 2024, consistently remaining between the levels of nationals and non-EU citizens.

Figure 5

Figure 6 shows that in the EU in 2024, the housing cost overburden rate was lowest among nationals (7.6%) and highest among foreign citizens, with non-EU citizens (18.8%) above citizens of other EU countries (16.1%). The same pattern was also observed in most countries with data available for all 3 groups, with some exceptions. In Denmark, non-EU citizens had lower rate (15.2%) than the other 2 groups (16.5% for nationals and 27.8 for other EU citizens), while citizens of other EU countries recorded higher rates than nationals and non-EU citizens in Denmark (27.8%), Estonia (17.5%), Italy (17.1%), Germany (15.2%), Slovenia (13.3%) and Latvia (12.7%).

The greatest differences between the 3 groups were observed in Portugal, the Netherlands, Czechia and Spain.

Figure 6

Source data for graphs

The data displayed in the visualisations come directly from Eurostat’s online database for the reference year(s) mentioned in the visualisation. The accompanying text is from 10 September 2025 and reflects the data situation at that moment in time.

For information on data reliability, series breaks, and differing definitions, flags can be consulted in the online dataset.

Data sources

The data used in this article are derived from EU-SILC. EU-SILC data are compiled annually and are the main source of statistics that measure income and living conditions in Europe; it is also the main source of information used to link different aspects relating to the quality of life of households and individuals.

The reference population for the information presented in this article is all private households and their current members residing in the territory of an EU country (or non-EU country) at the time of data collection; people living in collective households and in institutions are excluded from the target population. The data for the EU are population-weighted averages of national data. The reference period for individuals' characteristics is 2024. The statistics presented cover the EU as a whole, its individual Member States, one EFTA country (Norway), as well as the candidate countries Serbia and Türkiye.

In several EU countries, the classification of foreign citizens identifies a small sample of observations, therefore some data cannot be published due to very low reliability.

Context

Housing is considered an important element for the well-being of individuals. The quality and affordability of housing is often seen as crucial for measuring living standards and social inclusion/exclusion. Being able to afford housing of adequate/decent quality in a safe environment is a basic need, as a dwelling should provide shelter, adequate space for its occupants to live, eat and sleep, as well as a degree of privacy for the household as a whole and for its individual members.

In November 2020, the action plan on integration and inclusion 2021–2027 (COM(2016) 377 final) was adopted with the purpose of fostering social cohesion and building inclusive societies for all. Inclusion for all is about ensuring that all policies are accessible to and work for everyone, including migrants and EU citizens with migrant background. This plan includes actions in four sectoral areas (education and training, employment and skills, health and housing) as well as actions supporting effective integration and inclusion in all sectoral areas at the EU, EU country and regional level, with a specific attention paid to young people.

More information on the policies and legislation in force in this area can be found in an introductory article on migrant integration statistics.

Explore further

Database

Migrant integration (mii), see:

Social inclusion (mii_soinc)

Living condition (mii_lc)

Income and living conditions (t_ilc)

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Income and living conditions - legislation