Significant disparities in living conditions, income and housing between the large urban centres and the countryside of the European Union are brought to light by the latest Eurostat data. At the heart of the analysis is Cyprus, which records some of the most extreme and particular trends in Europe, especially in the real estate sector.
Eurostat data for 2025 paints a picture of living conditions in the European Union according to the degree of urbanisation and looks at three categories: cities, towns and suburbs, and rural areas. In 2025, 92.7 million people in the European Union, or around 20.9% of the population, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The picture was not the same in the three categories of areas. The rate was 21.4% in rural areas, 21.0% in cities and 20.4% in towns and suburbs.
Eurostat points out that the index is not only about income. It includes three different criteria: the risk of poverty, severe material and social deprivation and living in a household with very low work intensity. In Cyprus, the picture is part of this European comparison, with the situation of the residence being of particular interest.
One of the most characteristic elements of the article concerns houses with more space than their inhabitants need, what Eurostat calls under-occupied dwellings.
At EU level, in 2025, 33.4% of the population lived in a dwelling that was considered to have more rooms (mainly bedrooms) than the household needs. The percentage was much higher in rural areas, where it reached 41.3%, compared to 35.6% in towns and suburbs and 26.2% in cities.
The picture that emerges from Eurostat data is particularly interesting for Cyprus in the field of housing. On the one hand, a very large percentage of the rural population lives in houses, with more rooms (mainly bedrooms) than the household living in it theoretically needs, with Cyprus being in the group of countries with the highest rates in the EU. On the other hand, Cyprus is one of the few countries where housing overcrowding is highest in towns and suburbs, while the lowest percentage is recorded in rural areas
In 2025, the percentage of the rural population in Cyprus living in a house that is considered too large for the needs of the people living in it was between 71.1% and 72.8%, along with Ireland and Belgium. Only the Netherlands had a higher rate, with 73.3%.
This picture shows that in the rural areas of Cyprus a very large part of the population lives in dwellings which, according to the Eurostat definition, have more space than is required based on the composition of the household.
The other side of the housing picture is overcrowding, i.e. living in a house that does not have the minimum required number of rooms in relation to the number and composition of residents. Across the EU, in 2025, the overcrowding rate was 16.8%. In cities it reached 20.4%, while it was lower in towns and suburbs (14.8%) and in rural areas (14.2%). Cyprus, however, presents a different picture from the majority of member states. Eurostat reports that, along with Greece, it is an exception where overcrowding was highest in towns and suburbs, while the lowest rate was recorded in rural areas.
