Status: 01.08.2022 1:59 p.m
Are young people staying longer with their parents because of rising rents or the Corona problem? The statistician’s answer is a resounding no. In an EU comparison, too, young people in Germany tend to move out earlier.
In Germany, more and more young people between the ages of 15 and 24 no longer live with their parents. This is the result of current figures from the Federal Statistical Office. Despite rising rents and the corona pandemic in 2021, more young people would be able to stand on their own two feet than they have in ten years.
According to the figures, 31.2 percent of the age group no longer lived in their parents’ household. That is more than in 2011: At that time there were still 27.5 percent in the age group, or 2.4 million people.
Youth researchers: End of the “nest stool” trend
In 2021, the average age when young people left their parents’ home was 23.6 years. That is almost three years ahead of the EU average. In Sweden, young people left their parents’ home the earliest in Europe, at an average age of 19.
Young people in Portugal stayed at home the longest: their average age for the past year was 33.6 years. Young women in the EU continued to leave home earlier than men.
One can read as a trend that the time of the “nest stool” in Germany is over, said youth researcher Klaus Hurrelmann. “It’s really remarkable: the decade-long phase of moving out of the parental home very late seems to be abating now.”
This has nothing to do with a worse relationship, on the contrary: “The very good relationship with the parents remains – all studies show that it is excellent.” He sees it more as a signal that self-employment is becoming more important again, says Hurrelmann.
Fewer and fewer married people
According to statistics, the number of married people or those in a civil partnership in the young age group has fallen continuously since 2011. At the end of 2021, it reached a low of 136,000 people. In 2011 there were 246,500, in 1991 even 990,000.
The number of young parents has also continued to fall. Only 2.4 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds were parents in 2021. Ten years earlier it had been 3.7 percent.