In 2018, 5.2% of employed persons aged 15 to 64 in the European Union (EU) usually worked from home. This share has remained constant at around 5% throughout the last decade. However, over the same period, the share of those who sometimes work from home increased from 5.8% in 2008 to 8.3% in 2018.
With 14.0% of employed people usually working from home in 2018, the Netherlands topped the list of EU Member States, closely followed by Finland (13.3%), Luxembourg (11.0%) and Austria (10.0%). In contrast, very few people usually worked from home in Bulgaria (0.3%) and Romania (0.4%).
In the EU, the self-employed usually worked from home (18.5%) more often than employees (3.0%). This pattern was repeated in each Member State. The highest rates recorded were in Finland where more than 40% of self-employed persons usually worked from home (46.4%), the Netherlands (44.5%) and Austria (43.6%).
More women than men work from home
In 2018, a slightly higher share of women usually worked from home (5.5%) than men (5.0%). This was the case in most EU Member States, with the largest differences observed in France (8.1% of women, compared to 5.2% of men), Luxembourg (12.5% of women, 9.8% of men) and Malta (7.4% of women, 4.7% of men).
In contrast, in eight EU Member States, the situation was the reverse, with more men usually working from home than women. In the Netherlands (15.5% of men, compared to 12.3% of women), Denmark (8.5% of men, 7.0% of women) and Ireland (7.2% of men, 5.7% of women) this difference was especially large.
Data source: lfsa_ehomp
Older persons work from home more often than younger ones
The share of those working from home increases with age. In the EU, just 1.8% of 15-24 year-olds usually worked from home in 2018, compared to 5.0% among 25-49 year-olds and 6.4% among 50-64 year-olds. The highest share of 15-24 year-olds who usually worked from home was recorded in Luxembourg (8.7%). The next highest Member State was Estonia (5.2%).
For the other age categories, the Netherlands recorded the highest shares of those usually working from home (14.9% among 25-49 year-olds and 17.3% among 50-64 year-olds). They were followed by Finland (14.0% among 25-49 year-olds and 15.6% among 50-64 year-olds).
For more information on the statistics available in this area, take a look at the overview of labour market statistics (including the labour force survey (LFS)).
Note: The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States. The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. Further information is published here.
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