Still Living At Home With Your Parents? How Very European Of You!

In uncertain economic times, it’s tough for young adults to make ends meet after moving out of their childhood homes. That’s why many Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 have opted to continue living with their parents.

But while about one-third of people in that age range are currently in that group, that’s significantly lower than the rate across much of Europe.

Breaking down the stats

Pew Research studied data from 29 countries across Europe and found that young adults in all but five of those nations are more likely than Americans to live with their parents. In fact, this trend has remained steady since researchers reported on the same issue nearly a decade ago.

In some European countries, the number of young adults residing in their parents’ home is much higher.

• 77% in Croatia
• 73% in Greece
• 72% in Portugal

Both Italy and Serbia are close behind with 71% of young adults in each country living with their parents.

There are a few nations that fall below America’s average, though, including Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, where between 16% and 18% of young adults fall into that category.

There’s a gender gap

Whether you’re talking about the United States or Europe, it seems that young men are more likely than young women to live with their parents.

In America, about 36% of young men do, compared to 30% of young women.

That disparity was pretty much the same in several of the European countries included in the study — but in 16 of those nations, young men were more likely to live with their parents than women by a margin of 10+ percentage points.

The biggest difference can be found in Bulgaria, with 72% of men residing in their parents’ home compared to just 48% of women.

Chris Agee May 5th, 2023

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