Pafos Press 24 September 2025
Cyprus stands out as one of the countries where young people remain in their parental home longer, leaving at one of the oldest ages, according to data released by Eurostat on Tuesday. At the same time, the country stands out, according to the data, for its particularly low housing cost burden rate: only 2.8% of young people aged 15-29 live in households that spend more than 40% of their income on housing. This low rate, one of the lowest in the EU, is likely related to the fact that young people remain in their parental environment longer. In 2024, 9.7% of young people in the EU lived in households that spent 40% or more of their disposable income on housing, the so-called housing cost burden rate, while the same rate for the total population was 8.2%. In 2024, there were significant differences in this rate across EU countries. Greece (30.3%) and Denmark (28.9%) recorded the highest rates of housing cost overburden, far exceeding those of the Netherlands (15.3%), Germany (14.8%) and Sweden (13.5%). On the other hand, Croatia (2.1%), Cyprus (2.8%) and Slovenia (3.0%) had the lowest rates of housing cost overburden. In addition, young people in the EU leave their parental home at an average age of 26.2, with large differences between countries. With Cyprus above the average at 27.2 years, in countries such as Croatia (31.3 years), Slovakia (30.9 years), and Greece (30.7 years), young people stay in their home country longer, while in countries such as Finland (21.4 years), Denmark (21.7 years), and Sweden (21.9 years), they leave earlier. According to Eurostat data, Cyprus combines the tendency of young people to stay in their home country longer with low housing costs, offering a relatively favourable picture compared to other European countries, where the independence of young people is often accompanied by higher financial pressure.
