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Germany: More young people moving away from home

August 1, 2022

Newly released statistics show roughly a third of young Germans have moved out of their parents' homes over the past year, a slight increase. However, fewer young people are getting married and having children.

https://p.dw.com/p/4Ewvm
The shadow of two young people watching the sundown
Young women on average tend to leave home earlier than menImage: Peter Kneffel/dpa/picture alliance

More than 30% of Germans aged 15 to 24 were no longer living with their parents or guardians in 2021, according to data published Monday by Germany's Federal Office for Statistics, Destatis.

That is the highest percentage in the last 10 years, although only a modest increase in share of just under 4% during the decade. A total of around 8.3 million young people were measured in the data, which was presented as part of the EU's "European Year of Youth" initiative. 

The findings come a week after Destatis revealed that the percentage of the German population aged 15 to 24 has reached its lowest share since the beginning of current records in 1950.

What do the numbers show?

In Germany, young people left home on average at 23.6 years of age in 2021, almost three years earlier than the EU average, according to the EU statistics authority, Eurostat.

Young Swedes leave home the youngest, on average at 19 years old. Portugal had the highest average age for leaving home in the EU, at 33.6 years.

In Germany, young women on average left home earlier than men, with 27.6% of women in the age bracket still living at home compared to 35.1% of men.

Young women leaving the parental home earlier on average than young men applied to all 27 EU countries in 2021, according to Eurostat.

Bar graph indicating average age when leaving home in Europe

Fewer marriages, cohabitating and babies

Destatis also said that the number of 15- to 24-year-olds cohabiting or married in 2021 was at its lowest in 30 years. The figure of 136,000 married young adults completes a rapid decline over the past three decades. 

In 1991, there were around 990,000 married people in this age group. In that time period, around 9.6% of people aged 15 to 24 were married.

The number of parents in the 15 to 24 age bracket has also dropped by nearly 40% in Germany since 2011. In 2021, only 2.4% of the age group became parents. This hasn't changed much from 2011, when 3.7% of the age group were parents.

Young people in Germany

wmr/msh (dpa, KNA, epd)