OREANDA-NEWS. In the European Union (EU), more than half (59.3%) of the population were living in houses and 40.0% in flats in 2014. A majority of people in the EU were owners of their dwellings, with over two-thirds (70.1%) of the population living in owner-occupied dwellings, while 29.9% were renting their dwelling.

One of the key challenges of public policy is to provide decent housing for everyone, both in terms of cost and quality. Regarding housing affordability, 11.4% of the EU population were confronted in 2014 with housing cost overburden, meaning that they had to spend more than 40% of their disposable income for their accommodation. For the quality of housing conditions, a major element is the availability of sufficient space in the dwelling. In 2014, the overcrowding rate, as defined by the number of rooms available to the household, stood at 17.1% in the EU.

Overall, with an average score of 7.5 on a scale from 0 to 10, satisfaction with accommodation was the second best rated domain by the EU population aged 16 and over, behind satisfaction with personal relationships.

Highest share of population living in houses in the United Kingdom and Croatia, lowest in Spain and Latvia

In a majority of Member States, the largest part of the population were living in 2014 in houses, with the highest proportions being recorded in the United Kingdom (84.7%), Croatia (80.8%), Belgium (77.6%), the Netherlands (77.1%), Cyprus (72.7%) and Slovenia (70.3%). In contrast, flats were the main dwelling type, notably in Spain (where 66.5% of the population were living in flats in 2014), Latvia (65.1%), Lithuania (58.4%) and Greece (56.9%).

Proportion of owners highest in Romania, lowest in Germany and Austria

Regarding tenure status, there were more owners than tenants in every EU Member State in 2014. The highest shares of the population owning their dwelling were registered in Romania (with 96.1% of owners), Slovakia (90.3%) Lithuania (89.9%), Croatia (89.7%) and Hungary (89.1%), while less than two-thirds of the population owned their dwelling in Germany (52.5%) and Austria (57.2%), followed by Denmark (63.3%), the United Kingdom (64.8%) and France (65.1%).

Housing cost overburden rate highest in Greece, lowest in Malta

In 2014, the housing cost overburden was by far the highest in Greece, where 40.7% of the population were living in a household where total housing costs represented more than 40% of total disposable household income. It was followed at a distance by Germany (15.9%), Denmark (15.6%), the Netherlands (15.4%) and Romania (14.9%). At the opposite end of the scale, Malta (1.6% of the total population), Cyprus (4.0%), France and Finland (both 5.1%) registered the lowest housing cost overburden rates. At EU level, 11.4% of the population were living in households which spent more than 40% of their disposable income on housing.

Overcrowding rate highest in Romania, lowest in Belgium

In 2014 in the EU, 17.1% of the population were living in overcrowded households, meaning they had a lack of space given the size of the household. Across Member States, 1 out of 2 persons were living in overcrowded households in Romania (52.3% of the population). Hungary (44.6%), Poland (44.2%), Bulgaria (43.3%), Croatia (42.1%), Latvia (39.8%) and Slovakia (38.6%) also registered high shares of the population living in overcrowded households.

Highest satisfaction with accommodation in Finland, lowest in Bulgaria

On a scale from 0 (“not satisfied at all”) to 10 (“fully satisfied”), EU residents aged 16 and over rated their satisfaction with accommodation at 7.5. Among the EU Member States, satisfaction with accommodation was highest in the three EU Nordic Member States – Finland (8.4/10), Denmark (8.3/10) and Sweden (8.2/10) – as well as in Austria (8.3/10) and the Netherlands (8.1/10). At the opposite end of the scale, populations with the lowest rated satisfaction for accommodation were those living in Bulgaria (6.0/10), Latvia and Greece (both 6.6/10).