The relatively high level of young adults living with their parents in Ireland has been interpreted as a reflection of the State’s housing crisis but there are other factors at play. Recent Eurostat figures indicate the proportion of 18- 34-year-olds still living at home dropped from a record 64 per cent in 2022 to 60.1 per cent last year.
The 2023 rate was also lower than that recorded in 2021 (62.1 per cent). While the rate is significantly higher than the EU average (49.6 per cent), the swiftness of the fall suggests the pandemic and the increased incidence of remote working may have seen many young people move back home for a period.
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“Over the last 20 years, across the entire EU, about half of 18- 34-year-olds have tended to live at home with their parents. Ireland is among a group of countries [which includes the Mediterranean and Balkan states] where the proportion has typically been higher,” said John McCartney, director and head of research at BNP Paribas Real Estate.
“Indeed Ireland only dipped below the EU average between 2009-2015 when an economic crisis forced 88,000 young adults to leave the country,” he said.
“So intergenerational living in early adulthood appears to be part of Ireland’s cultural profile and for that reason, I wouldn’t over-interpret the fact that our proportion of 18- 34-year-olds living at home remains above the EU norm in 2023 (60.4 per cent versus 49.6 per cent).”
For now, at least, it looks as if the rise recorded in 2021 and 2022 was a blip related to the pandemic, rather than problems in the housing market.
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