THE PROPORTION OF Irish people aged 25-29 living with their parents grew at one of the highest rates in Europe over a ten-year period, according to a recent report. 

The Eurofound report has found the share of young adults aged 25-29 living with their parents in Ireland increased from 36.0% in 2007 to 47.2% in 2017.

Across Europe, there was an increase of 2% in adults aged 25–29 living at home over the same period. The largest increase in Europe was seen in Ireland, Luxembourg and Romania. 

Luxembourg saw a jump of 33.2% in 2007 to 49.1% in 2017, while Romania increased from 44.9% to 54.2%. 

Researchers found that young people in the Nordic countries usually moved out earliest, “while the highest proportions of young adults living with their parents were in southern and eastern Member States as well as Ireland”. 

The EU agency said that many young adults had to move back to the parental home after the recession, referring to them as to as the “boomerang generation”.

This happened because young people just entering the labour market were often the first ones to lose their jobs as redundancies were introduced. 

Eurofound Eurofound

Well-being 

Eurofound also examined the differences in well-being between young adults who live with their parents and those who have moved out. 

It found that on average across the EU, young adults of all ages were better off financially and less likely to be in the lowest income quartile if they lived with their parents but despite this security “young adults’ subjective well-being was better if they had moved out”, especially among the 25-29 age cohort. 

“These differences in aspects of well-being were stronger for the older group and are especially present for life satisfaction, happiness, satisfaction with family life and optimism about one’s own future, all of which are worse when living with parents,” the report states. 

Reacting to the Eurofound report, Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said “there are solutions” to this problem.

“The next government must commit to ambitious targets and the required funding in order to roll out affordable cost rental.

This has been government policy since 2014, yet not one affordable cost rental home has been delivered. There are 50 under construction in Dublin but at €1,200 per month these are not affordable.

“People can’t wait any longer. The policy is there, the sites are there, we just need a commitment from all parties that the funding and plan will be a priority as part of a government for change,” Ó Broin said.