Migrant integration statistics - housing

Data extracted on 16 September 2026

Planned article update: September 2027

Highlights

In 2025, the home ownership rate among nationals (73.5%) was 3 times higher than that of non-EU citizens (24.1%) and nearly twice as high as that of citizens of other EU countries (38.4%).

In 2025, 33.5% of non-EU citizens lived in overcrowded housing; for citizens of other EU countries, the share was 20.0%, while for nationals it was 13.6%.

In 2025, the housing cost overburden rate stood at 18.1% for non-EU citizens, compared with 15.2% for citizens of other EU countries and 7.1% for nationals.

This article presents European Union (EU) statistics for 3 main housing indicators: home ownership, overcrowding, and housing cost overburden rates. These rates are analysed according to a person’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 or over. This article forms part of the online publication on migrant integration statistics. The three indicators are also visualised in the Migrant Integration and Inclusion Dashboard.

Home ownership rate

Between 2016 and 2025, home ownership was more common among nationals than among foreign citizens, both from other EU countries and non-EU countries (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Over this period, the ownership rate among nationals increased slightly, from 72.8% in 2016 to 73.5% in 2025. By contrast, it fluctuated around 40% for other EU citizens, settling at 38.4% in 2025. For non-EU citizens, the ownership rate declined from 30.2% in 2016 to 22.9% in 2024, then slightly increased to 24.1% in 2025.

In 2025, in the EU, the home ownership rate remained high among nationals (Figure 2), with the highest rates recorded in Slovakia (94.6%), Romania (93.7%), and Croatia (92.3%). The lowest rates were recorded in Germany (52.0%), Denmark (57.6%), and Austria (60.9%).

Figure 2

For non-EU citizens, home ownership varied widely across countries, with the highest rates in Bulgaria (85.5%), Slovakia (76.8%), and Latvia (74.9%), and particularly low rates in Austria and Germany (both 15.9%) and Slovenia (16.5%).

Citizens of other EU countries generally had higher ownership rates than non-EU citizens, with exceptions in Ireland (33.9% for non-EU citizens, compared with 28.9% for other EU countries), Denmark (31.3% compared with 29.8%), and Cyprus (37.2% compared with 36.7%).

Overcrowding rate

Between 2016 and 2025, in the EU, the overcrowding rate remained considerably higher among non-EU citizens than among nationals and citizens of other EU countries (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Over the decade, the overcrowding rate for nationals declined slightly (from 15.3% in 2016 to 13.6% in 2025), while that for non-EU citizens remained broadly stable (33.3% in 2016 to 33.5% in 2025). By contrast, the rate for citizens of other EU countries increased from 18.2% in 2016 to 20.0% in 2025. As a result, the gap compared with nationals widened from 2.9 to 6.4 percentage points (pp).

Figure 4 shows that in 2025, the overcrowding rate was highest among non-EU citizens in Romania (77.6%), Poland (59.4%), and Slovakia (58.9%), and lowest in Cyprus (7.4%) and in Ireland and Malta (both 9.7%).

Figure 4

Among nationals, the highest rates were recorded in Romania (35.4%) and Latvia (35.1%), and lowest in Cyprus (1.0%), Ireland (2.6%), and the Netherlands (2.8%).

For citizens of other EU countries, overcrowding rates were highest in Slovakia (65.8%) and Latvia (45.7%), and lowest in Malta (0.7%), Hungary (2.8%), and Cyprus (3.3%).

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

Housing cost overburden rate

Between 2016 and 2025, the housing cost overburden rate remained consistently higher among foreign citizens than among nationals (Figure 5).

Figure 5

In the EU, the housing cost overburden rate for nationals decreased, from 10.5% in 2016 to 7.1% in 2025. Non-EU citizens faced higher and more fluctuating rates. Despite an increase between 2020 and 2023, there was an overall downward trend, with the rate falling from 26.7% in 2016 to 18.1% in 2025. The share of citizens of other EU countries overburdened by housing costs declined from 22.3% in 2016 to 15.2% in 2025, consistently remaining between the levels recorded for nationals and non-EU citizens.

Figure 6 shows that the overall EU pattern was observed in most countries with data available for all three population groups, although there were some exceptions.

Figure 6

In Denmark, Greece, and Slovakia, citizens of other EU countries recorded lower rates than the other two groups, whereas in Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, and Sweden, they recorded the highest rates. The only country with nationals recording the highest rate was Greece at 27.0%, compared with 24.7% for non-EU citizens and 23.4% for citizens of other EU countries.

Source data for graphs

The data displayed in these visualisations come from the following Eurostat datasets:

For information on data reliability, breaks in series and differences in definitions, refer to the flags in the source 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 2025. 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)

Thematic section

Publications

Methodology

Legislation

Income and living conditions - legislation

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