In 2018, there were 194 million households in the European Union (EU), an increase of 12 million since 2010. However as the number of households in Europe goes up, their average size goes down.
In less than a decade, the average household size slowly decreased from 2.4 people to 2.3, while the share of single person households (currently nearly a third of all households) recorded a 17% increase since 2010. The overall trend is towards households consisting of persons living alone, single parents and couples without children. In the majority of households, there are no children and single parent households have gone up by 13% since 2010.
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Source dataset: lfst_hhnhtych
Share of households with children highest in Ireland, lowest in Germany and Finland
Among the EU Member States, Germany and Finland recorded the highest proportion of households without children (78%), ahead of Sweden (77%), Austria (75%) and Bulgaria (74%).
In contrast, the highest proportion of households with children was registered in Ireland (39%), followed by Poland, Cyprus and Slovakia (all 36%) and Romania (35%).
Source dataset: lfst_hhnhtych
Highest proportion of lone parent families in Denmark, lowest in Croatia
At EU level, 14% of families (7.9 million households) were made up of single parents with children.
With nearly 1 in every 3 families being a lone parent family, Denmark (29% of all households with dependent children) recorded the highest proportion of single adult households with children, followed by Estonia (28%), Sweden and Lithuania (both 25%), Latvia (23%) and France (21%).
Conversely, the lowest proportions of single adults with children were found in Croatia (6% of all households with dependent children), Romania (7%), Finland, Slovakia and Greece (all 8%).
Share of households with one child highest in Bulgaria, lowest in Ireland
At EU level, almost half of all households with children (48%, or 26.9 million households) consisted of only one child, while 40% (22.2 million) had two children, and 13% (7.1 million) three children or more.
The highest shares of households with one child was registered in Bulgaria (60% of all households with dependent children) and Portugal (58%), followed by Latvia and Lithuania (both 55%). In contrast, the lowest proportions of households with one child were found in Ireland (35%), Sweden and the Netherlands (both 39%).
Are you home alone with your kids?
In these times of corona virus, when many people are juggling working from home and looking after their children, it might be a good idea to keep your children busy with some games and tools related to statistics.
Have a look at the Education corner on the Eurostat website! In there you will find plenty of tools and games that your children could play with and at the same time acquire some knowledge about statistics.
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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