Young people - housing conditions

Data extracted in September 2024.

Planned article update: September 2025.

Highlights

In 2023, young people across the EU left their parental home on average at the age of 26.3 years, ranging from 31.8 years in Croatia to 21.4 years in Finland.

In 2023, 26.0% of young people (aged 15-29 years) in the EU lived in overcrowded dwellings, 9.2 percentage points more than the share in the population overall.

In 2023, 10.1% of young people (aged 15-29 years) in the EU lived in households that spent 40% or more of their disposable income on housing.

a map showing the average age of leaving the parental home for EU countries.

Estimated average age of people leaving their parental home, 2023
(age in years)
Source: Eurostat (yth_demo_30)

Moving out of the family home is a key milestone in the transition from childhood to adulthood. Several factors can influence this decision: being in a relationship, the situation in the jobs market, cultural habits, as well as financial aspects related to housing costs and the cost of living in general.

This article presents an analysis of the age when young people in the European Union (EU) typically take this decision. It also presents 2 closely related indicators that can describe young people’s housing conditions: the overcrowding rate and the housing cost overburden rate.

Further analysis related to this topic can be found in the following Statistics Explained articles:

Living conditions in Europe - housing - Chapter: Key findings , which analyses the housing situation for the population overall; and

Young people - family and society, which discusses the family situation for young Europeans.

Key findings

In 2023 across the EU, the average age of young people who left the family home was 26.3, varying from 31.8 in Croatia to 21.4 in Finland.

The share of young people living in overcrowded households in the EU is 9.2 percentage points (pp) higher than for the total population. In some countries the difference is even greater: it reaches 20.4 pp in Bulgaria, 19.4 pp in Romania and 18.5 pp in Greece. The highest percentages of young people living in overcrowded households are in Romania (59.4%), Bulgaria (55.3%) and Latvia (54.8%).

More young people live in households that spent at least 40% of their income on housing, than the whole population: in 2023, this amounted to 10.1% for young people (aged 15-29) in the EU. This figure is 1.2 pp higher than for the total population. The housing cost overburden rate for young people was the highest in Greece (31.1%), Luxembourg (27.5%) and Denmark (27.3%).

Leaving the parental home

In 2023 across the EU, the average age of young people who left their parental home was 26.3. However, this average varied among EU countries. The highest average ages, at 30 or over, were recorded in Croatia (31.8), Slovakia (31.0), Greece (30.6), Spain (30.4), and Bulgaria and Italy (both 30.0). In contrast, the lowest average ages, all under 23, were registered in Finland (21.4), Sweden (21.8), Denmark (21.8) and Estonia (22.8). Countries on both ends of the spectrum tend to be stable across time, pointing to different practices concerning co-residence of generations among EU countries.

Map 1: Estimated average age of people leaving their parental home, 2023
(age in years)
Source: Eurostat (yth_demo_30)

When breaking down ‘young people’ into smaller age groups (15-19, 20-24 and 25-29 year olds - Figure 1), we can identify further differences.

In Croatia, Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Greece, most young people live with their parents or contribute to/benefit from the household income. This corresponds to more than 95% of those aged 15-19, more than 80% of those aged 20-24, and more than 60% of those aged 25-29.

However, in Sweden, Denmark and Finland already 8-10% of 15-19 year olds do not live with their parents. Furthermore, more than 63% of those aged 20-24 live independently, with this share increasing to over 90% for those aged 25-29.

Figure 1: Young people living with their parents or contributing to/benefiting from the household income, 2023
(%)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_lpvs08)

Overcrowding rate

In 2023, 26.0% of young people (aged 15-29 years) in the EU lived in overcrowded dwellings.

The overcrowding rate is defined as the percentage of the population living in an overcrowded household. A person is considered as living in an overcrowded household if it does not have at a minimum number of rooms available that is equal to the sum of:

one room for the household;
one room per couple in the household;
one room per single person aged 18 or over;
one room per pair of single people of the same gender between 12 and 17;
one room per single person between 12 and 17 and not included in the previous category;
one room per pair of children under 12.

In 2023, the overcrowding rate for young people aged 15-29 years stood at 26.0%, 0.2 pps lower than in 2022. Across all EU countries young people were more likely than the population overall to live in overcrowded households. The overcrowding rate for young people was 9.2 pps higher than the overcrowding rate for the population overall (16.8%).

There are considerable differences in overcrowding rates between EU countries. In 2023 in Malta, 3.9% of young people lived in an overcrowded household, while in Romania the rate reached 59.4%. More than half of young people also lived in overcrowded households in Bulgaria and Latvia, and more than a third in Greece, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Italy and Lithuania (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Overcrowding rate, EU, 2023
(%)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_lvho05a)

The highest difference between the rates for young people and those of the population overall were seen in Bulgaria (20.4 pp), Romania (19.4 pp) and Greece (18.5 pp). The overcrowding rate for young people was more than twice as high as the rate for the population overall in the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland.

Figure 3 presents the overcrowding rate for young people broken down by smaller age groups (15-19, 20-24 and 25-29 year olds). Generally, in countries where the overcrowding rate for young people is high, 15-19 is the most affected age group. In Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Croatia and Greece more than half of 15-19 year olds live in overcrowded households (ranging from 68.3% in Romania to 51.6%. in Greece).

In most countries the overcrowding rate reduces with age. The biggest difference between 15-19 and 25-29 year olds is seen in Lithuania (22.3 pp) followed by Romania (20.0 pp) and Greece (17.0 pp).

On the other hand, in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands overcrowding rates are highest for 20-24 year olds. The difference between this age group and those aged 15-19 is 15.5 pp in Finland, 12.2 pp in Sweden and 12.0 pp in Denmark. In Finland, the overcrowding rate for 20-24 year olds is more than twice as high as that for 15-19 year olds.

In other countries where the overcrowding rates are lower, the differences among age groups are smaller as well.

Figure 3: Overcrowding rate for young people by age group, 2023
(%)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_lvho05a)

Housing cost overburden rate

In 2023, 10.1% of young people (aged 15-29) in the EU lived in households that spent 40% or more of their disposable income on housing. This figure is 1.2 pp higher than for the total population.

The indicator housing cost overburden rate shows the percentage of the population living in households where housing costs equate to more than 40 % of a household’s disposable income.

In 2023, 8.9% of the EU’s population lived in households that spent 40% or more of their disposable income on housing (see Figure 4). For young people, the share was 1.2 pp higher, at 10.1%. However, there are considerable differences between EU countries. Croatia (2.4%) and Slovenia (2.6%) had the lowest housing cost overburden rate for young people, while Greece (31.1%), Luxembourg (27.5%) and Denmark (27.3%) had by far the highest. Nine countries recorded rates above the EU average (10.1%).

Figure 4: Housing cost overburden rate, EU, 2023
(%)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_lvho07a)

In 2023 in 19 EU countries, the housing cost overburden rate was higher among those aged 15-29 than for the population overall. The biggest difference between both groups was 11.9 pp in Denmark, followed by the Netherlands with 7.6 pp. In relative terms, the biggest difference was in the Netherlands, as well as in Finland and Denmark where the rate for young people was around 1.8 times higher than that for the population overall.

Unlike the overcrowding rate, 8 EU countries recorded (slightly) higher housing cost overburden rates for the population overall than for young people. Among these, Croatia recorded the biggest difference (1.6 pp).

Figure 5 analyses the situation in more detail when the group is further broken down into smaller groups (15-19, 20-24 and 25-29). Among these groups, the housing cost overburden rate was highest for 20-24 year olds (12.2%) and lowest for 15-19 year-olds (7.6%). This was the case in most EU countries.

Figure 5: Housing cost overburden rate for young people, by age group, 2023
(%)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_lvho07a)

In some of the countries where young people tend to become independent sooner, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Finland, the housing cost overburden for young people is higher.

Countries where young people move out of the parental home later, like Cyprus, Croatia and Italy, tend to report lower levels of housing cost overburden. However, in Greece and Bulgaria, despite the higher average age of people leaving the family home, the housing cost overburden remains high for young people.

Source data for tables and graphs

Housing conditions — young people: tables and figures

Data sources

The data used in this article are derived from the EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) and the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).

EU-SILC is the main European source of information for statistics related to income, living conditions and social inclusion. The legal basis for these data is Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 establishing a common framework for European statistics related to people and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples.

In the survey a person is included in the parental household if they are:

• living with their parents;

• working away from the family home during the week, but usually return to the family home at the weekends;

• primary and secondary school pupils away from the family home during the school term;

• living outside the family home for an extended period of time for work reasons, but are significantly contributing to the household income and are not usual residents of another private household;

• students in higher education who are away from their family home while at college or university but benefit from the household income and are not usual residents of another private household.

The EU-LFS is the largest European household sample survey providing quarterly and annual results on labour participation of people aged 15 and above. The EU-LFS is based on the same target populations and uses the same definitions in all countries, meaning that the results are comparable between countries. Yearly results are obtained as averages of the four quarters in the year.

The EU aggregate is a population-weighted average of individual national figures.

The reference population covered by these data comprises all private households and their current members residing in EU Member States, EFTA countries and EU candidate countries at the time of data collection. Persons living in collective households and in institutions are excluded from the target population.

Context

In 2023, there were 72.8 million people aged between 15 and 29 in the EU ^[1], and, as in many other aspects in life, they can face challenges with housing. Housing conditions are a fundamental aspect of living standards and social integration for individuals. For young people starting life away from the family home, finding and sustaining accommodation can be a major challenge. In the EU’s European Pillar for Social Rights action plan, one of the headline targets is: ‘lifting at least 15 million people out of the risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2030’. For each target, a group of indicators was developed to monitor and support the strategy. Housing conditions are included within the indicators related to material deprivation. Housing issues are also addressed in the EU youth strategy adopted for the 2019-2027 period.

Notes

↑ According to Eurostat’s demographic data: Child and youth population on 1 January by sex and age [YTH_DEMO_010__custom_2164673]

Explore further

Database

Youth (yth), see:

Youth social inclusion (yth_incl)

Income and living conditions (ilc), see:

Living conditions (ilc_lv)

Housing conditions (ilc_lvho)

Material deprivation (ilc_md)

Housing deprivation (ilc_mdho)

Thematic section

Publications

Methodology

Income and living conditions(ilc) (ESMS metadata file — ilc_sieusilc)

External links

[1] According to Eurostat’s demographic data: Child and youth population on 1 January by sex and age [YTH_DEMO_010__custom_2164673]

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