Zagreb: Young people in the European Union leave the parental home at an average age of 26.3 years, according to Eurostat figures for 2025 released on 15 September 2026, a marginal rise from 26.2 years in 2024. The headline average has barely moved in more than two decades, hovering around 26 since 2002, but the national numbers behind it describe two very different ways of entering adulthood.
Croatia sits at the top of the table, with young people moving out at 31.5 years on average. Greece and Slovakia follow at 30.9, while Spain and Italy both record 30.2. At the other end, young Finns leave home at 21.4, Danes at 21.8, and Estonians and Lithuanians at 22.7. The difference between Zagreb and Helsinki therefore amounts to roughly a decade of life, a gap that shapes everything from household formation and birth rates to labour mobility and demand for rented housing.
Eurostat links the pattern directly to work. In 2025 the employment rate among 20 to 29 year olds across the EU stood at 65.5 per cent. In most countries where young people move out earlier than the EU average, the employment rate for that age group is above average, with the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Sweden cited as examples. In Greece, Croatia, Spain and Italy, where people tend to leave the parental home later, youth employment falls below the EU level. The data do not prove which way causation runs, but the association is consistent enough to matter for policymakers.
The indicator itself is an approximation built from the EU Labour Force Survey. Statisticians calculate, for each single year of age between 15 and 34, the share of respondents living in households without their parents, derive an exit probability, and identify the age at which half the population no longer lives with a parent. The measure is computed separately for men and women, and it captures co-residence rather than financial independence, so a young adult who moves back after losing a job will show up in the numbers.
The release lands in a year when housing costs have climbed the European political agenda. Southern and south-eastern member states have long argued that late departure reflects scarce entry-level jobs and expensive rents more than cultural preference, and the Eurostat figures lend support to that reading. Northern countries combine earlier departures with student grants, larger rental markets and stronger youth employment, which makes independent living affordable at a younger age.
For governments trying to raise fertility or ease labour shortages, the statistic offers a simple test of whether policies are working. If young people can leave the parental home earlier, they can also move to where jobs are, form households and start families. Croatia and Greece, which combine late departure with shrinking populations, have the most to gain from understanding why their young adults stay at home into their thirties, and Eurostat’s next update will show whether the 2025 uptick was noise or the start of a trend.
