Ireland’s ‘boxroom generation’ now living at home until 28 on average

That was up from 26.9 years in 2022 and the Irish are staying home longer while the average age for leaving home fell across Europe over the same period. The Irish figures are above the EU average and dramatically higher than the Nordic region, where Finns are living independently at the age of 21.4 years, on average.

On average, Irish men moved out of home later than women. The average age for men stood at 28.5 in 2023, while women on average left the parental household a year earlier at age 27.5 years.

This was higher than the EU average of 26.3 years last year, which itself was down slightly from 2022.

In the EU the highest average age for living at home was recorded in Croatia, with people leaving their parental home at 31.8 years and the number is over 30 in Slovakia, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria and Italy.

The country with the lowest average age of people moving out of home was Finland, followed by Sweden and Denmark (21.8 years), while young people in Estonia moved out of home on average at the age of 22.8 years last year.

Eurostat also found that more than a quarter of young people in the EU aged 15- 29 lived in overcrowded households in 2023.

However, Ireland had one of the lowest overcrowding rates for young people at just 4.4pc.

Malta had a rate of 3.9pc, while Cyprus had a rate of 4pc.

The highest overcrowding rates were recorded in Romania at 49.4pc and Bulgaria at 55.3pc.

Around 54.8pc of young people in Latvia also lived in overcrowded households.

A Eurofound study published earlier this year also revealed that 40pc of young working people in Ireland still lived at home in 2022 as many grappled with the ongoing housing crisis.

This was up from 27pc in 2017.

The report found that a fifth of those aged between 30 to 34 in the EU still lived with their parents in 2022.

Around 42pc of those aged 25 to 29 also continued to reside in their parental homes that year.