AS MANY as one in three Irishmen and nearly one in six Irish women aged between 25 and 34 live at home with at least one of their parents, according to new European research.
The data, published by Eurostat, is silent on whether the quality of romance, motherly cooking and other hearty comforts have any bearing on whether young people stay at home or move out.
The survey also shows that 34 per cent of Irishwomen between the age of 18-34 are in a “consensual union”, lower than any other European country. In Finland, almost 63 per cent of women of the same age were in such relationships when the study was conducted in 2008.
Eurostat, the EU’s statistical arm, says no less than 51 million Europeans aged 18-34 lived with their mother, father or both parents in 2008. It reveals big disparities between the sexes and between prosperous northern states and southern countries. For example, only 2.8 per cent of Danish men and 0.5 per cent of Danish women in the 25-34 age bracket live at home with a parent or parents. In non-EU Norway, only 30 per cent of women and 40 per cent of men aged between 18 and 24 years live at home, while in Ireland a majority of males (83.8 per cent) and females (77.9 per cent) do so.
It suggests education, relationships and the quality or lack of employment are prime factors in determining where young Europeans live. Questions of financial self-sufficiency arise, as do cultural aspects such as the relative importance given to the nuclear family or “lifestyle arrangements” enabling children to be more independent.
Noting a higher share of women than men aged 18-34 living in a “consensual union”, they say this reflects the fact that women on average marry or move out with a partner earlier in life than men. But young Irishwomen do so in fewer numbers than other Europeans, they say.
“The highest proportions of both women and men aged 18-34 who lived in a consensual union in 2008 were observed in Finland (63 per cent for women and 51 per cent for men), Sweden (61 per cent and 48 per cent), Romania (57 per cent and 42 per cent) and France (55 per cent and 45 per cent), and the lowest for women in Ireland (34 per cent), Slovenia, Malta and Slovakia (all 37 per cent) and for men in Greece (21 per cent), Slovenia (22 per cent) and Italy (25 per cent).”
The proportion of Irishmen aged 18-34 who share a home with a partner (25.5 per cent) compares with an EU average of 35.8 per cent.
The proportion of Irishmen aged 25-34 who live with a parent (32.2 per cent) was in line with the European average of 32 per cent. The proportion of Irishwomen living at home in this age bracket (17.9 per cent) is under the European average of 19.6 per cent.
