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.
Among the EU Member States, 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%). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest overcrowding rates were recorded in Cyprus (2.5%), Ireland (3.2%), Malta (4.2%) and the Netherlands (4.8%).
