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Cyprus had lowest housing cost overburden rate

17/06/2022 07:22

Cyprus recorded the lowest housing cost overburden rate, as well as the lowest percentage of overcrowded households in the European Union during 2020, according to data released by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service.

Housing cost overburden rate refers to the percentage of the population living in households which spend 40% or more of their disposable income on housing.

The housing cost overburden rate was 7.8% in the EU in 2020 with large differences between Member States.

Rates below 5% were recorded in 13 Member States, with the lowest shares in Cyprus (1.9%), Lithuania (2.7%), Malta (2.8%) and Slovakia (3.2%).

At the other end of the scale, rates above 10% were recorded in Denmark (14.1%) and Bulgaria (14.4%), with the highest rate recorded in Greece (33.3%).

Regarding living conditions, Eurostat data shows that in 2020, 17.5% of the EU population lived in overcrowded households, meaning they did not have enough rooms for the number of people in the household, their family situation and their ages.

Lack of space in overcrowding households is amplified by having kids playing in the same room as parents trying to telework during the coronavirus lockdowns. Moreover, overcrowded environments can present a higher risk of spreading the virus, it is pointed out in Eurostat’s press release.

The lowest overcrowding rates were recorded in Cyprus (2.5%), Ireland (3.2%), Malta (4.2%) and the Netherlands (4.8%).

Almost half the population in Romania (45.1%) were living in overcrowded households in 2020. This was also the case for around two in every five persons in Latvia (42.5%), Bulgaria (39.5%), Poland (36.9%) and Croatia (36.2%).