Eurostat: Greeks continue to live with parents even after 30 years

Due to the high (relative to salary) the cost of rent for housing and beggarly wages Greeks continue to live with their parents even after 30 years.

While young people in Europe leave home on average shortly after their 26th birthday (26.3 years), their peers in Greece have to spend at least four more years there before they can “spread their wings” (30.6 years).

This is the third highest average age after Croatia and Slovakia (31.8 and 31 years respectively). Spain (30.4) and Italy, which is tied with Bulgaria (30 years), round out the top six European countries where young people stay away from home the longest. On the other hand, the lowest average age of leaving the family home was recorded in Finland (21.4 years), Sweden and Denmark (both 21.8 years) and Estonia (22.8 years). They are followed by the Netherlands (23.3 years), France (23.7) and Germany (23.9).

According to Eurostat, 46% of young people in Greece live in “overcrowded households” that do not have a minimum number of rooms for their members. The corresponding average for young people in EU is 26%. MYoung people in Europe literally live much more closely than the general population. In the 27 EU countries, the proportion of people living in overcrowded households is 14%, and in Greece it is 27%.

There are significant differences between EU countries in the proportion of young people living in overcrowded households: in 2023, in Malta, 3.9% of young people lived in overcrowded households, while in Romania the figure was 59.4%. More than half of young people lived in overcrowded households in Bulgaria and Latvia.

Greece tops the list of young people living in overcrowded conditions, along with Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Croatia and Lithuania. “Housing costs are a major burden” for young people

More young people live in households that spend at least 40% of their income on housing than the general population: in 2023, this figure rose to 10.1% among young people (aged 15-29) in the EU. This is 1.2 percentage points higher than for the general population. In Greece, the housing cost burden for young people was the highest in the EU, with three in ten spending more than 40% of their income on rent or mortgages and bills.

It is followed by Luxembourg (27.5%) and Denmark (27.3%). The lowest housing cost burden for young people was recorded in Croatia (2.4%) and Slovenia (2.6%). In 2023, in 19 EU countries, the housing cost burden was higher among people aged 15-29 years than among the general population. The largest difference between the two groups was 11.9 percentage points in Denmark, followed by the Netherlands with 7.6 percentage points.

In relative terms, the largest difference was observed in the Netherlands, followed by Finland and Denmark, where the rate for young people was approximately 1.8 times higher than for the general population. Data by age categories:

As noted in the report Eurostatif we divide the general category of youth into separate age groups, we can draw the following conclusions. In Croatia, Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Greece most young people live with their parents and contribute to or benefit from family income. This corresponds to over 95% of 15-19 year olds, over 80% of 20-24 year olds and over 60% of 25-29 year olds.

However, in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, already 8-10% of young people aged 15-19 do not live with their parents. Moreover, over 63% of 20-24 year olds live independently, and among 25-29 year olds this figure exceeds 90%.

In Greece, according to schedule Eurostat, Almost 85% of young people aged 20-24 live with their parents or receive income from family. This number includes those who study in other cities than their permanent place of residence, students who are on their knees – they and their parents – from exorbitant rents. In the age group of 25-29 years, the proportion of young people living with their parents is more than 40%.

In some countries where young people become independent earlier, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Finland, the housing cost burden is higher for young people.

Countries where young people move out of their parents' home later, such as Cyprus, Croatia and Italy, tend to report lower levels of housing cost burden. However, in Greece and Bulgaria, despite the older average age of leaving the family home, the burden of housing costs remains high for young people.

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