Bulgaria among the EU countries where young people leave parental home at highest average age, Eurostat

Bulgaria is one of the countries in the EU where young people leave the parental home at the highest average age (30.3), latest Eurostat data show. Bulgaria also has one of the widest gender gaps after Romania (a difference of 3.5 years), with men leaving at 32.0 and women at 28.5.

The highest average age of young people leaving their home was recorded in Portugal (33.6 years), Croatia (33.3 years), Slovakia (30.9 years), Greece (30.7 years) and Bulgaria (30.3 years).

In contrast, Sweden (19.0 years), Finland (21.2 years), Denmark (21.3 years) and Estonia (22.7 years) recorded the lowest average age - all under 23.

Across the EU, young people will leave their parental households at 26.5 years on average in 2021.

In most northern and western countries, young people leave home in their early to mid-20s on average, while in southern and eastern countries the average age is in the late 20s or early 30s.

In the EU in 2021, men left their parental home at an average age of 27.4 years and women at 25.5. This trend is observed in all countries, i.e. young women leave the parental household on average earlier than young men.

On average, men left their parental home after the age of 30 in 11 EU countries (Croatia, Portugal, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Malta, Spain, Romania and Poland), while this was the case for women in only 2 countries (Portugal and Croatia).

The largest gender gap is found in Romania, where young men leave at 30.3 years and women at 25.6 years (gender gap of 4.7 years), followed by Bulgaria (gender gap of 3.5 years), where men leave at 32.0 years and women at 28.5 years. In contrast, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland have the smallest gaps between young men and women leaving home: 0.4, 0.5 and 0.9 years.

The gender gap is more pronounced in countries where young people leave home later and less pronounced in countries where they leave home earlier.