Geographies in Depth

Which countries in Europe have the most overcrowded housing?

a picture of a facade of European houses

17.1% of households in the EU are considered overcrowded.

Image: Unsplash/Andreas M

  • On average, 17.1% of households in the EU are overcrowded, according to Eurostat.
  • Montenegro has the highest percentage of overcrowded houses, at 63%.
  • Eurostat classes a household as overcrowded if there aren't enough rooms for people to live comfortably.
  • For instance, if there isn't a minimum of one room in the household per couple, or for each single person aged 18 and over.
  • Cyprus boasts the lowest percentage of overcrowded households, at 2.2%.

According to the latest Eurostat statistics, 63 percent of households in Montenegro are overcrowded. According to the source's definition, a household is considered overcrowded if it does not have a minimum of one room for the household, one room per couple, one room for each single person aged 18 and over, one room per pair of single people aged 12-17 and/or one room per pair of children aged under 12. At the other end of the scale, Cyprus boasts just 2.2 percent of households falling into this category - comfortably below the 17.1 percent average for the European Union.

a chart showing overcrowding in Europe
Image: Statista
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