Spaniards take longer to leave their parents’ house. Last year, the average age at which they became independent was 30.2 years, above the 30 of the previous year, according to data published this Tuesday by Eurostat. Difficulties in accessing their own housing, both for purchase and rent, break the downward trend seen in the previous two years. The trend occurs despite the fact that youth employment levels are at nearly twenty-year highs.
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Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Spanish average has remained above 30 years, as in 2019 it was 29.5 years. After some years rising, others falling, and a peak of 30.5 years in 2022, with the latest increase few countries are worse off than Spain. Italians match the figure, with North Macedonia (30.7), Slovakia (30.9), Greece (30.9), and Croatia (31.5) worse off. The difference is notable with neighboring France, where the average is 23.8 years, and it is also far from Germany, with 24.1 years.
At the EU level, the figure also rose slightly last year, from 26.2 to 26.3 years on average, after three years with the average stagnant or declining. The earliest are in the north of the continent, with 21.3 years for Finns or 21.8 for Danes.
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More employment, more ability to leave parents’ house earlier
Eurostat points out that in countries with emancipation age below the average, a higher employment rate among young people aged 20 to 29 is usually recorded. That is, their youth have more employment. “For example, in countries where young people tend to leave the family home earlier – such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden – the youth employment rate tends to be higher,” it states in a note. Conversely, “in countries where young people leave the family home later, such as Greece, Croatia, Spain, and Italy, the employment rate was below the EU average.”
Following this logic, those with the highest employment rate are the Dutch, with 84%, who leave home at an early age, with an average of 23.4 years. In Spain, the employment rate is 58.2%, seven points below the continental average but at its highest since 2008.
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