European demographic problem: Only one in four homes has a child

In one in four households The European Union is raising at least one child, according to Eurostat data for 2022, released today on the occasion of World Children’s Day.

In the EU there are nearly 200 million private householdsand to 24.3% of them are living children, according to 2022 data. In particular, 12.1% of EU households include one child, 9.3% two children and only 3% of EU households have 3 or more children.

The total number of households in the EU increased by 6.9% between 2012 and 2022; however, over the same period, the percentage of households with at least one child decreased by 2.4%. The highest percentages of households with children were recorded in Slovakia (33.9%)the Ireland (32.2%) and Cyprus (30.6%)while the lowest rates in Finland (18.4%), Germany (20.1%) and the Netherlands (21.8%).

Among households with children in the EU, almost half had only one child (49.5%) in 2022, while 38.1% of households had two children and three or more children in 12.4%.

Households with one child are the most common among households with children in all EU countriesexcept for the Netherlands, where households with two children have the highest percentage (42%).

Only one child includes more than half of households in Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, Spain and Hungary. Households with three or more children are the least common in all EU countries. Their share among all households with children it ranged from 22.3% in Ireland, 21.2% in Sweden and 19.0% in Finland, to 6.3% in Portugal, 6.5% in Bulgaria and 7.4% in Italy.

According to Eurostat, among households with children in Greece, approximately 48% include one child, 35% two children and 17% three children.