Half of young Maltese workers live with their parents

49% of young Maltese workers aged aged between  25 and 34  still lived  in the parental home according to  figures included in  a study published by the EU Agency for the improvement of living and working conditions. (Eurofound).

The statistics are based on calculations made by the authors of the report using EU-SILC microdata.

The report entitled ‘Becoming adults: Young people in a post-pandemic world’ shows that a  significant proportion of young Europeans aged between 25 and 34 remain living with their parents, even when they are in employment.

Malta had the fourth  highest percentage of young working people in this age group who lived with their parents. Only Croatia (65%), Slovakia (60%), Greece (57%) Bulgaria (50%) reported  a higher percentage than Malta’s.

The percentage of 25 to 34 year olds who live with their parents ranges from only 2% in Finland and Sweden to 65% in Croatia.

The percentage of young people living with their parents was slightly higher in Malta than in Italy (48%), Spain (42%) and Poland (42%).

The report also shows that Malta has the highest percentage of young people aged between 15 and 29 who live with their parents.

In general, Nordic countries like Sweden (31%) Denmark (35%) and Finland (43%) reported the lowest prevalence of young people living with their parents In contrast, in southern Member States, most young people aged 15–29 live in the parental home. The highest prevalence is in Malta (95%), Croatia (93%) and Italy (91%).

While students are much more likely than those in employment to be living with their parents, according to the report a significant proportion of those young people of working age who are likely to have completed their education (those aged 25–34) remain living with their parents, even when they are in employment.

“This points to the obstacles that high living and housing costs present on the pathways of young people to independence and to shortages of available housing”, the report concludes.