According to Eurostat, two-thirds of Greeks between the ages of 18 and 34 live with their parents, placing Greece in sixth place among 35 European countries.
In particular, according to a recent survey by the European Statistical Office, based on data from 2019, about 50% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 in the European Union live with their parents.
The corresponding share in Greece and Italy is 69.4% – 8.7 percentage points higher than in 2011. The Scandinavian and Nordic countries are at the lowest rungs of the ladder, with the corresponding figures in Denmark – 17.2% and Finland – 19.5%.
“In Central and Northern Europe, it is taken for granted that when a child turns 18, he or she celebrates his majority and goes on his own,” says Antigone Liberaki, professor of economics at Pantio University in Athens.
According to her, Greece has a different mentality, since there are traditional images of social roles. She added that the lifestyle of independent living alone is not accepted in Greece, noting that the prevailing mentality is that parents are responsible for their children until they get married – regardless of the age of the “child” in question.
Liberaki also noted that the financial crisis and the coronavirus crisis were critical and reinforced preexisting trends.
“There is a tendency to return to the family with parents, the crisis has made it more in demand,” she said, noting that marriages and childbirth are being postponed, also due to the pandemic.
More Stories
ELSTAT: inflation increased by another 3.2% in March
“Disappointing” second poorest EU country
Greece ranks last in the EU in terms of investment as a percentage of GDP in 2023