Household size

Housing costs tend to represent a larger share of income for those living alone than for large families. This reflects the fact that housing costs, considered overall, may be only slightly higher for larger families than for smaller ones, given the large share of costs that are absorbed by fuel, maintenance, repair and so on, and also given the fact that house prices and rents do not tend to increase in proportion to the size of houses.

In the EU as a whole, therefore, housing costs averaged around 34% of disposable income for people of working age living alone, and around 32% for single parents. Housing costs also absorb a relatively large share of income (31%) for those aged 65 and over who live alone. These figures are substantially higher than for other households with more than one adult, whether or not they have children (Figure 3).

The figures, moreover, show a similar pattern in most countries. In all Member States without exception, therefore, housing costs represent a larger share of disposable income for people of working age who live alone and for lone parents than they do for the population as a whole. They also represent a larger share for those aged 65 and over living alone in all countries except Luxembourg, where the share is similar to that for the rest of the population. The picture is similar for those with income below the poverty threshold.

Figure 3: Average housing costs as percentage of disposable income, by household type for total population and those at risk of poverty in the EU, 2006