Young Greeks Leave Parental Home Later Than Most Of EU

In 2023, young Greeks continued to leave their parental homes at one of the latest ages across the European Union, with the average age standing at 30.6 years.

This placed Greece among the countries with the oldest average age for young people to gain independence, along with Croatia (31.8 years), Slovakia (31.0), Spain (30.4), Bulgaria, and Italy (both 30.0).

The EU-wide average age for young people leaving home remained relatively stable at 26.3 years in 2023, slightly down from 26.4 years in 2022. In contrast to countries like Greece, some nations recorded much lower average ages, with Finland (21.4 years), Sweden and Denmark (both 21.8), and Estonia (22.8) having the youngest average ages for leaving home.

Young Greeks also faced significant challenges in terms of overcrowding at home. In 2023, the overcrowding rate for young people aged 15-29 in Greece was notably high, contributing to a broader trend across the EU where younger populations often experienced more cramped living conditions compared to the general population.

Across the EU, 26.0% of young people lived in overcrowded households, a rate that was 9.2 percentage points higher than the overall population (16.8%). In Greece, the difference between the overcrowding rate for young people and that for the general population was 18.5 percentage points, one of the highest disparities in the EU. This placed Greece third in terms of disparity, just behind Bulgaria (+20.4 pp) and Romania (+19.4 pp).

By comparison, some EU countries experienced significantly lower overcrowding rates for young people and smaller gaps between age groups. Malta (3.9%), Cyprus (4.0%), and Ireland (4.4%) had the lowest overcrowding rates for young people, while differences between the youth and overall population were also minimal in these countries, notably in Ireland (+0.5 pp), Malta (+1.5 pp), and Cyprus (+1.8 pp).

Read more: Eurostat reports

(Source: Eurostat)